The stock market indices had a down morning and then vacillated wildly after the FOMC announcement. This included a sharp dip down to 2132 on the Nasdaq 100, reaching trend line and moving average support, and a dip near 1184 on the S&P 500, also testing trend line and moving average support. But when that held the indices ripped to the upside, swinging around from 2132 to 2160 on the NDX and from 1184 to 1198 on the SPX. They backed off in the last hour, but came on again in the last 15 minutes to close up on the day.

Net on the day, the Dow was up 26.41 at 11,215.13, the S&P 500 up 4.39 at 1197.96, and the Nasdaq 100 up 6.64 at 2158.36.

Advance-declines were almost 3 to 2 positive on the New York Stock Exchange, and positive by about 340 issues on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was less than 2 to 1 positive on New York on volume just over 1 billion. Nasdaq traded 1.85 billion and had about an 11 to 7 positive ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board was mostly higher, but there were quite a few stocks that were narrowly mixed. Leading the way today, Apple Inc. (AAPL) advanced 3.44 to 312.80, Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) 3.86 to 168.47, Coinstar Inc. (CSTR) 2.56 to 61.87, RealD (RDL) 4.75 to 26.96, JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (JKS) 3.59 to 38.92, Motricity, Inc. (MOTR) 3.25 to 24.25, and MIPS Technologies Inc. (MIPS) 1.04 to 15.44.

In addition, MGM Resorts International (MGM) jumped 1.16 to 12.31, and Dendreon Corp. (DNDN) 1.09 to 38.59.

On the downside, there were no point-plus losers on our board other than Golden Minerals Company (AUMN), down 1.26 to 27.02.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were lower in the morning, vacillated dramatically after the FOMC announcement, and then rallied sharply to close with gains for the day and pass another key test for the indices and for the bulls.

We’ll see what kind of follow-through, if any, we get tomorrow, as often the market takes a different direction in the days following FOMC announcements than it does in the hours immediately after the news. The following day or two is when they really start to move in a more definitive direction.

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