The market spent the better part of the morning and early afternoon in a pullback consolidation mode, but support held all day and then in the afternoon when it was obvious they were not breaking down and the S&P and Dow were acting even better than Nasdaq, a rally ensued.  Once they took the highs out, they rallied solidly in the last few minutes and the indices closed at or near the highs for the day.

The Dow was up 83 and change, the S&P up more than 10, and the Nasdaq 100 was up nearly 11.  The SOX managed to gain 1.50 today and held back Nasdaq a bit.

The technicals confirmed today's strong session, with advance-declines 3 to 2 positive on both exchanges.  Up/down volume due to options expiration was a whopper today, about 2 to 1 positive on 2 1/2 billion traded on New York.  Nasdaq had more than 2.4 billion traded and about a 7 to 5 positive ratio on up/down volume.

So there was very heavy volume today, on an upday, and that's a positive note.  The key also today was that support did hold.

TheTechTrader.com board was active with some outstanding gainers, although for the most part fairly narrow.  The leader today was CTI Industries (CTIB), which we've been following the last few days.  It had a monster day, up 2.35 on more than 8 million shares.

Dynamic Materials (BOOM) snapped back 66 cents.  Cavelier Homes (CAV) on a FEMA contract was up 90 cents. Catuity (CTTY) was up 71 cents, Global Industries (GLBL) up 49 cents, Neoware (NWRE) 40 cents and Universal Display Panel (PANL) snapped back 78 cents today.  Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) advanced 48 cents.

On the downside, the alternative energy sector in general was soft.  Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) was off 1.20. Evergreen Solar (ESLR) 52 cents, DayStar Technologies (DSTI) a quarter, and Distributed Energy Systems (DESC) 7 cents.

Other stocks of note, Abatix (ABIX) dropped 1.34, Meadow Valley (MVCO) 38 cents and Forward Industries (FORD) 49 cents.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly patterns, the key to today's session was that key support at the 1588-90 zone did hold on the Nasdaq 100 and support at 1225-26 held on the S&P.

They rallied smartly in the afternoon, which could augur well for next week.

Good trading!

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.