The stock market indices had a very strong snapback session to close out the week on apparent short-covering and bargain hunting.

In the morning they opened firm, but then rolled over hard on negative economic news, taking the Nasdaq 100 under 1750 and the S&P 500 under 1045, down near the key 1040 area that was reached last Wednesday. When the NDX made new lows and the SPX failed to confirm and held the earlier support low, that created a positive divergence.

Traders jumped on that and road the market sharply higher the rest of the session, taking the NDX from 1747 to 1794, closing at 1791.64, up 22.64. The S&P 500 ran from 1039.70 to 1065.21, closing just under that at 1064.59, up 17.37, a big turnaround today. The Dow closed up 164.84 at 10,150.65.

Advance/declines were huge today by more that 6 to 1 positive on the New York Stock Exchange. Up/down volume was about 11 to 1 positive, but total volume was just under 1.1 billion. Nasdaq had a plurality of about 5 to 1 positive on advance/declines. Up/down volume was about 12 to 1 positive, with up volume at 1.94 billion and down volume at only 168 million shares on total volume of 2.1 billion.

Many of the stocks we traded on TheTechTrader.com board had a stellar session. Leading the way, Netezza Corporation (NZ) advanced 4.95 to 19.87. We traded that several times today.

Among other point-plus gainers today, Apple Inc. (AAPL) was up 1.34 at 241.62, Cree Inc. (CREE) 2.58 at 56.53, Google Inc. (GOOG) 7.85 at 458.83, Isilon Systems, Inc. (ISLN) 1.08 at 19.97, OmniVision Technologies Inc. (OVTI) 1.12 at 23.25, Transocean Ltd. (RIG) 1.38 at 52.03, Trina Solar Ltd. (TSL) 1.41 at 25.50, ADTRAN Inc. (ADTN) 1.66 at 31.64, and Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) 1.78 at 126.64.

In addition, the ultra-long ETF Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X Shares (FAS) was up 1.07 at 18.64.

Other gainers of note, Acme Packet, Inc. (APKT) was up 81 cents at 33.30, China Automotive Systems Inc. (CAAS) 67 cents at 14.77, China Agritech Inc. (CAGC) 74 cents at 16.72, Power-One Inc. (PWER) 72 cents at 10.37, RINO International Corporation (RINO) 64 cents at 16.03, Spreadtrum Communications Inc. (SPRD) 76 cents at 10.48, and Westport Innovations Inc. (WPRT) 44 cents at 16.86.

On the downside, other than Goldman Sachs (GS), which dropped 2.06 to 139.75, there was nothing down more than a few cents. Most stocks were up today.

Among the ultra-short ETFs, the Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3X Shares (FAZ) fell 1.09 to 16.16, the Direxion Daily Small Cap Bear 3X Shares (TZA) 3.12 to 35.94. iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (VXX) 1.40 to 21.50, and the Direxion Daily Emrg Mkts Bear 3X Shares (EDZ) 2.47 to 37.22.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices after a brief bump at the opening then rolled over hard, but saw their lows for the day early on. They then stair-stepped their way higher in a strong 5-wave rally, which ended with substantial gains for the week to close out the trading. However, both the Nasdaq 100 and the S&P 500 still remain below their major declining channel tops and below key overhead resistance.

It remains to be seen what additional upside move may occur next week, but the down-channel formations remain in place.

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