The stock market indices started out the day in sharply lower fashion with a big gap down as the futures were lower before the opening. But they quickly stabilized and then took off. Within the first hour and a half they had reached key resistance at 1810 on the Nasdaq 100 and just under 1070 on the S&P 500, and backed off to form bull flags.

When it was apparent that they weren’t going to rollover, they ran sharply higher again, and by mid-afternoon had reached 1828 NDX and 1078 SPX. Another bull flag ensued, and they ran sharply into the close.

Net on the day, the Dow was up 75.53 at 10,229.96, 220 points off the low. The S&P 500 was up 12.23 at 1083.48, 27 points off its low. Nasdaq 100 was a whopping 56 points off its low, up 21.39 at 1840.67.

Advance/declines were better than 4 to 1 positive on the New York Stock Exchange, and up/down volume was about 5 1/2 to 1 positive with total volume of 1.15 billion shares traded. Advance/declines on Nasdaq were about 2 1/2 to 1 positive and up/down volume was just about 3 to 1 positive on total volume of over 1.9 billion.

TheTechTrader.com board, as a result, was mostly higher, except for the ultra-shorts, obviously. Leading the way, Google Inc. (GOOG) advanced 15.41 to 481.59, and Apple Inc. (AAPL) 6.31 to 251.89, closing almost 12 points off its low. A big reversal there ahead of its earnings tonight. Goldman Sachs (GS) jumped 3.23 to 148.91, about 7 1/2 points off its low.

So, there were big reversals in the large-cap market leaders today.

Cree Inc. (CREE) was another point-plus gainer, up 1.71 at 68.61. Large fractional gainers included Acme Packet, Inc. (APKT) up 83 cents at 30.68, more than 2 points off its low today. China Agritech Inc. (CAGC) was up 60 cents at 11.11, China Automotive Systems Inc. (CAAS) 58 cents at 17.48, and China TransInfo Technology Corp. (CTFO) 14 cents at 7.43 in a generally firmer Chinese group today.

In addition, L & L Energy, Inc. (LLEN) gained 66 cents at 10.32, Isilon Systems, Inc. (ISLN) 62 cents at 14.43, IDT Corporation (IDT) 78 cents at 15.62, Cirrus Logic Inc. (CRUS) 66 cents at 18.15, and Power-One Inc. (PWER) 41 cents at 9.23.

RINO International Corporation (RINO) jumped 66 cents at 13.54, and Valassis Communications Inc. (VCI) snapped back 91 cents at 29.47. Trina Solar Ltd. (TSL), our favorite junior solar, rose 62 cents to 23.70.

On the downside, International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) lost 3.24 to 126.55 after reporting earnings, but was well off its low.

The ultra-short ETFs suffered today with the Direxion Daily Emrg Mkts Bear 3X Shares (EDZ) down 2.95 at 39.53, the Direxion Daily Small Cap Bear 3X Shares (TZA) down 2.02 at 36.85, and the iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (VXX) down 1.36 at 25.17.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were down sharply at the opening, then had a strong 5-wave advance throughout the rest of the session that brought them way back into sharply positive territory today, taking out two layers of resistance along the way.

It was an impressive showing for the bulls today, and we’ll see if they can follow-through tomorrow.

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