It was a choppy morning, particularly on Nasdaq, but the S&P 500 worked its way higher all day and never broke intraday moving averages. It pulled back in the last hour in a nice bullish flag and ended not far off the highs for the day near key overhead resistance, as did the NDX.

Net on the day the Dow was up 112.08 to 9599.75, the S&P 500 up 15.25 to 1040.46, and the Nasdaq 100 up 13.15 to 1675.54.

Advance-declines were positive by 5 to 1 on New York and by 2 1/2 to 1 on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 9 to 1 positive on New York on total volume of 1.1 billion. Nasdaq traded 2.3 billion and had a more than 4 to 1 positive volume ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board was mostly higher, except for A123 System (AONE). This recent new issue, which had jumped from 18 to 28, got hammered back 2.50 on the day to 23.27, nearly 5 points off its earlier high at 28.20.

That was the only point-plus loser on our board other than the ultrashorts. The Direxion Financial Bear 3x Shares (FAZ) dropped 2.04 to 21.30, the Direxion Large Cap Bear 3X Shares (BGZ) 1.16 to 22.29, the Direxion Small Cap 3x Bear (TZA) 79 cents to 12.79, and the UltraShort Real Estate ProShares (SRS) 58 cents to 10.12.

The Direxion Financial Bull 3x Shares (FAS) gained 6.27 to 78 4.3, Goldman Sachs (GS) 6.87 to 186.47, JP Morgan (JPM) 1.94 to 43.80, and Wells Fargo (WFC) 1.81 to 28.09, all in the very strong banking sector today.

Portfolio position China TransInfo (CTFO) crossed 10 for the first time ever, up 1.09 to 10.05.

DepoMed (DEPO) had a very strong burst on news, gapped up, and closed at 5.61, up 1.20.

Human Genome Sciences (HGSI) jumped 93 cents to 19.13 on positive comments out of a conference.

Portfolio position Spreadtrum Communications (SPRD) advanced 40 cents to 4.91, China Green Agriculture (CGA) added 77 cents to 11.79, and Brigham Exploration (BEXP) 51 cents to 8.97.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, they were up early, pulled down sharply to retest but held support, then rallied strongly to test overhead resistance on a couple occasions but failed to get through, and closed near there on the SPX.

We’ll see if this is just a technical snapback and we’re headed lower, or whether today’s bullish action signaled a more meaningful start to the week.

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