We have mentioned several times in recent weeks that the NASDAQ 100 Index (QQQQ) has been outperforming the S&P 500 Index and Dow Jones Industrial Average. The enthusiasm for this move was tempered somewhat though by the top heavy nature of the QQQQ rally, which seemed to primarily driven by Google (GOOG) and Apple (AAPL).

However, we are now seeing other technology indices and stocks that look to be outperforming the broad market and perhaps poised to break out to the upside. The CBOE Internet Index ($INX), Philadelphia Semiconductor Index ($SOX), and AMEX Disk Drive Index ($DDX) are just a few that have had strong price performance lately on their charts.

Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, Daily w/ 20- & 40-day Moving Averages


Here are the weighted holdings of the SOX:

Altera Corp. ALTR 5.97%
Applied Materials, Inc. AMAT 4.94%
Advanced Micro Devices AMD 1.78%
Broadcom Corporation BRCM 7.18%
Infineon Technologies AG IFX 2.44%
Intel Corp. INTC 5.99%
KLA-Tencor Corp. KLAC 11.63%
Linear Technology Corp. LLTC 9.39%
Marvell Technology Group MRVL 4.51%
Micron Technology, Inc. MU 2.13%
National Semiconductor NSM 5.62%
Novellus Systems, Inc. NVLS 5.98%
SanDisk Corporation SNDK 7.53%
STMicroelectronics NV STM 3.30%
Teradyne, Inc. TER 3.40%
Taiwan Semiconductor TSM 2.96%
Texas Instruments, Inc. TXN 8.24%
Xilinx, Inc. XLNX 7.02%

Also, some "older" technology names are popping up as upside breakouts on our screens, such as Verisign (VRSN), Checkpoint (CHKP), Xilinx (XLNX), and Altera (ALTR).

Verisign, Daily w/ 20- & 40-day Moving Averages


Checkpoint, Daily w/ 20- & 40-day Moving Averages


As is always the case with the market, there are sectors and individual stocks that will make you money on the positive side. Despite a lot of fundamental negatives and fears hanging over the US Economy and stock market, technology looks like a good place to be currently. This may in fact augur well for the medium-term outlook of the broad market, as tech stocks are traditionally a leading indicator.

Price Headley is the founder and chief analyst of BigTrends.com.