The stock market indices had a huge up-day today, gapping up big time at the opening, pulling back slightly early on, and then reaching the session highs on the Nasdaq 100 early in the morning. After that they moved sideways, just slightly lower on the NDX and slightly higher on the S&P 500. Late in the day the SPX surged to new highs, but the NDX failed to confirm, possibly setting up a negative divergence, but we’ll see if there’s any follow-through on the NDX to confirm tomorrow.

Net on the day, the Dow was up nearly 220 points at 11,434.84, up 219.71. The S&P 500 was up 23.10 at 1221.06 and the Nasdaq 100 up 29.44 at 2187.80.

Advance-declines were 5 to 1 positive on the New York Stock Exchange and 3 to 1 positive on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 10 to 1 positive on New York on total volume of about 1 1/3 billion. Nasdaq traded 2 1/2 billion today and had a 3 to 1 positive ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board was mostly higher. There were many point-plus gainers. Leading the way, Apple Inc. (AAPL) was up 5.47 to 318.27, reaching over 320 for the first time in its history today. Cree Inc. (CREE) gained 2.84 to 54.79 on short covering. Motricity, Inc. (MOTR) jumped 1.69 to 25.94, Goldman Sachs (GS) 3.76 to 166.39, MasTec, Inc. (MTZ) 1.96 to 14.33, Smith Micro Software Inc. (SMSI) 2.39 to 14.87, and SodaStream International Ltd. (SODA) 5.88 to 30.00, a big winner there today.

In addition, Molycorp, Inc. (MCP) was up 2.43 to 36.51, Kandi Technologies Corp (KNDI) 46 cents to 6.41 today, LDK Solar Co., Ltd. (LDK) 56 cents to 12.89, and Blue Coat (BCSI) 63 cents to 27.65. Brigham Exploration Co. (BEXP) jumped over 23, closing at 22.96, up 96 cents, a new all-time high today.

On the downside, the point-plus losers included Isilon Systems, Inc. (ISLN). down 2.09 to 26.07 on rumors of merger talks breaking down. JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (JKS) dropped 1.40 to 37.52, and Polypore International Inc. (PPO) 3.66 to 32.74.

The ultra-short ETFs got hurt. The Direxion Daily Small Cap Bear 3X Shares (TZA) was down 1.60 to 19.78, the Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3X Shares (FAZ) 1.11 to 11.05, and the Direxion Daily Emrg Mkts Bear 3X Shares (EDZ) 1.47 to 20.56.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices gapped up and ran early, but that’s where the divergence began as the NDX slipped in a slow, descending column channel for the rest of the session. The S&P 500, however, went sideways and then broke out to the upside late in the session and closed over 1221 today.

It was a very positive session, but there’s some concern about negative divergence with the NDX, as many of the major market leaders, like Amazon.com (AMZN), Netflix (NFLX), and Salesforce.com (CRM), were weak today and probably the cause for why the NDX trailed.

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