The indices managed to have a very strong late run to wipe out early losses and end up in the plus column.

The day started out with a thrust downward that tested yesterday’s lows on the Nasdaq 100 and taking out the lows on the S&P 500, but holding at the multi-week lows around the 1085-86 areas. That triggered a 3-wave rally that saw the indices snap back very sharply, reaching 1780 NDX and near 1095 SPX. Over the next several hours they stair-stepped lower in an orderly fashion, which indicated to me that a positive consolidation was setting up for more late upside. When the SPX failed to take out the lows and held the 1086 a second time in early afternoon, that triggered a very strong rally which saw the NDX jump from 1769 to 1791 and the SPX jump from 1086 to 1097, before they backed and filled into the close.

Net on the day the Dow was up 51.08 at 10237.05, the S&P 500 up 3.93 at 1095.88, and the Nasdaq 100 up 16.97 at 1789.70.

Advance-declines managed to move into the positive column by 16 to 13 on New York but were only 22 issues higher on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was just a shade to the plus side on New York on total volume of just over 1 billion. Nasdaq traded over 1.8 billion and had a nearly 2 to 1 posstive volume ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board was active. Goldman Sachs (GS) led the way, which snapped back sharply, up 4.60 to 166.44. Apple (AAPL) had a very big day, up 7.58 to 197.45.

The other big gainer on our board today was Hi-Tech Pharmacal (HITK), which we traded, up 2.65 to 24.48. Portfolio position NetList (NLST) advanced 82 cents to 6.11, for a gain of 15.5%.

Rambus (RMBS) gained 67 cents to 21.94, and Canadian Solar (CSIQ) 31 cents to 23.68.

Among the ETFs, Direxion Financial Bull 3x Shares (FAS) was up 61 cents to 71.11, and the Direxion Large Cap Bull 3X Shares (BGU) up 51 cents to 49.47. Curiously, the Direxion Small Cap 3x Bear (TZA), which is an ultrashort, was up 6 cents to 11.36, while the UltraShort Real Estate ProShares (SRS) also added a penny to 8.29.

On the downside, there were no losses of as much as a point, but the U.S. Oil Fund ETF (USO) did drop 98 cents at 35.87 on weaker oil, and Dendreon (DNDN) gave back 53 cents to 26.11 on the announcement of a secondary. AsiaInfo (ASIA) lost 32 cents to 30.55, as it continues to consolidate its recent gains. Nanometrics (NANO) dropped 40 cents to 12.87.

Other than that, most stocks were only fractionally changed.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, they were down early but then staged a strong 3-wave advance on the NDX to put the indices back solidly in the plus column.

The SPX trailed today, but ended with a solid afternoon move back. However, overhead resistance at the 1098 area still remains. The NDX has taken out the declining tops line of the last four sessions, a positive technical occurrence, but has not had confirmation yet from the SPX.

We’ll see what that means going forward.

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