The markets had a solid up-day today, although the last 45 minutes or so brought them back rather sharply, taking back a big chunk of the gains.

The day started off with a move down as the indices sold off quickly and put a severe test on short-term support, but held there. Then a very sharp rally ensued that saw the Nasdaq 100 move from 1887 to 1932 inside of a couple hours. They pulled back mid-day and consolidated, but when they failed to go any lower they took off in an afternoon rally that took them to the highs for the day with about 45 minutes to go. Only that late pullback prevented them from a much bigger day.

Still, net on the day the Dow was still up 87 3/4, the S&P 500 up just under 9 and the Nasdaq 100 up just under 18. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) was up 5.6.

Advance-declines were positive by a little less than 2 to 1 on New York and on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was about 9 1/2 to 5 positive on New York, and almost 3 to 1 positive on Nasdaq. Total volume was just under 1 1/2 billion on New York and close to 2 1/3 billion on Nasdaq.

TheTechTrader.com board was mixed but mostly positive, with several point-plus gainers. The stock of the day today was low-priced Nextwave Wireless (WAVE), a portfolio position of ours, that jumped 1.95 on nearly 4 million shares, the heaviest volume in its history on very positive news. The stock broke out of a long-term base and is looking very bullish and higher.

Other stocks of note, Celestica (CLS) jumped 2.04, broke out of a 15 month base with strong percentage gain of 30% ,and was the leading gainer on the NYSE today. Aluminum Corp. of China (ACH) gained 1.71 to 45.46. China Finance Online (JRJC) gained 1.16 to 18.45, and JST 1.47 to 37.55, as the Shanghai Index jumped more than 9% today.

Washington Mutual (WM) came back strong today, up 1.12 to 12.16 on 52.6 million shares. United (UA), on the sharp drop in oil, responded with a gain of 1.45 at 15.40.

Among the losers, shippers had an extremely difficult day today, with DryShips (DRYS) off 2.70, TBS International (TBSI) down 3.02, and Excel Maritime (EXM) down 1.16.

Solar energy stocks were under the gun for most of the day, with Canadian Solar (CSIQ) down 1.04, Solarfun (SOLF) down 60 cents, and JA Solar (JASO) down 52 cents.

Other stocks of note, Chindex (CHDX) gave back 1.07 and Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) lost 1.05.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the Nasdaq 100 surged to 3-month highs today, reaching close to 1943 before backing off and closing near 1924. But, the S&P 500 failed to do anything more than just nominally take out 1396 resistance, reaching as high as 1397.72 before backing off and closing at 1388.82.

But, the overall patterns are still bullish and I'm optimistic about further price gains. The overall base patterns not only individual but index-wise are telegraphing that the market likely wants to go higher here.

Harry Boxer is a technical consultant to many Wall Street hedge funds and large institutional traders, and author of TheTechTrader.com, a real-time diary of his day, swing and intermediate-term trades. For more of Harry Boxer, sign up for a free 15-day trial to his Real-Time Technical Trading Diary, or sign up for a free 30-day trial to his Top Charts of the Week service.