It was a monster day for stocks as the indices gapped up strongly, ran hard in the morning, consolidated mid-day and then ran again in the afternoon, basically stair-stepping higher all day and closing at the highs for the day going away.

Net on the day the Dow closed over 8600 at 8616.21, up 256.72. The S&P 500 was up 26.84 at 932.68, and the Nasdaq 100 was up 48.12 at 1500.98.

Advance-declines were 28 to 3 positive on New York and 22 Ã,½ to 4 Ã,¾ on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was huge, with 1 1/3 billion to the upside and less than 50 million to the downside, or about 27 to 1 positive, on New York. Up/down volume was also very strongly positive on Nasdaq, with 2.4 billion to the upside and 163 million to the downside, or about 15 to 1 positive.

TheTechTrader.com board was mostly higher except of course for the ultrashorts.

The Direxion Financial Bear 3x Shares (FAZ) fell 5.24, the Direxion Small Cap 3x Bear (TZA) 2.71, the UltraShort Real Estate ProShares (SRS) lost 1.48, and the Direxion Large Cap Bear 3X Shares (BGZ) was down 3.14. Direxion Daily Emerging Markets Bear 3X Shares (EBZ) fell 2.33 to 12.46.

The only other loss on our board today was 3Par (PAR), which got hammered on lower-than-expected earnings, down 1.77 to 9.68 on 5 million shares, but even that was a point off the low.

Among the leading gainers, Apple (AAPL) was up 4.61 to 146.88, Goldman Sachs (GS) up 5.60 to 155.26, and Potash (POT) up 3.71 to 87.76.

The Direxion Financial Bull 3x Shares (FAS) gained 4.94 to 48.51, the Oil Services HLDRs (OIH) 4.10 to 98.68, and the iShares MSCI Brazil Index ETF (EWZ) 2.98 to 53.03. In addition, the iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index (FXI) was up 1.60 to 39.02 and the U.S. Oil Fund ETF (USO) up 1.37 to 33.47.

Canadian Solar (CSIQ) in a very strong junior solar sector was up 1.49 to 12.62. Yingli Green Energy (YGE) gained 91 cents to 11.08.

Junior biotech OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals (OGXI) advanced 1.55 to 21.71.

The financial sector was very strong today. In addition to GS, JP Morgan (JPM) gained 1.56 to 36.26, Morgan Stanley (MS) up 92 cents to 28.80, Wells Fargo (WFC) up 90 cents to 25.30, and Bank of America (BAC) up 51 cents to 13.42.

Cree Inc. (CREE) advanced 1.33 to 28.42, and Aluminum Corp. of China (ACH) 1.59 to 24.08.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, it was a very strong session with a big gap up based on strong pre-market futures fueled by surprisingly strong earnings from Intel (INTC) and better than expected economic news on several fronts.

The indices gapped up, ran hard all day, and closed near the highs for the day going away. It was a significant session, as the indices closed at or just above key overhead resistance going back 2 Ã,½ months. This is a key test right here for the indices as to whether they can extend. This Friday being options expiration, anything can happen over the next day or two.

Harry Boxer is a technical consultant to many Wall Street hedge funds and large institutional traders, and author of TheTechTrader.com.