The stock market indices jumped with a big gap at the opening, and then ran hard in the morning after some strong economic news. They reached their highs just before noon, and then pulled back or consolidated the rest of the day, but held onto most of their gains.

Net on the day, the Dow was up nearly 250 (249.76) at 11,255.78. The S&P 500 was up 19.47 at 1206.07, and the Nasdaq 100 up 45.50 at 2162.83.

Advance-declines were about 4 to 1 positive on the New York Stock Exchange, and about 2 1/2 to 1 positive on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was about 12 to 1 positive on New York on total volume of about 1.1 billion. Nasdaq traded over 2.1 billion and had about a 6 to 1 positive volume ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board was mostly higher. Large-cap stocks had a good day today with Apple Inc. (AAPL) up 5.25 to 316.40, Acme Packet, Inc. (APKT) up 4.03 to 53.01, OmniVision Technologies Inc. (OVTI) 2.73 to 31.02 on solid earnings, and Goldman Sachs (GS) up 2.31 to 158.43.

In addition, Cree Inc. (CREE) advanced 1.60 to 66.78, and Brigham Exploration Co. (BEXP) 1.20 to an all-time new high at 26.37. Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) jumped 1.15 to 176.55, IDT Corporation (IDT) 1.41 to 22.20, LogMeIn, Inc. (LOGM) 1.63 to 45.42, and Rosetta Resources, Inc. (ROSE) 1.14 to 36.96.

Other gainers included Harman International Industries Inc. (HAR) up 2.61 to 46.20, Acergy SA (ACGY) 1.25 to 21.32, Aruba Networks, Inc. (ARUN) 1.67 to 22.91, MIPS Technologies Inc. (MIPS) 70 cents to 14.29, Nova Measuring Instruments Ltd. (NVMI) 75 cents to 7.40, BioScript (BIOS) 45 cents to 4.49, and Rediff.com (REDF) 71 cents to 3.87.

In addition, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (JAZZ) was up 87 cents to 17.52. hiSoft Technology International Ltd. (HSFT) exploded 4.56 to close at 32.41. GrafTech International Ltd. (GTI) gained 90 cents to 20.50, Camelot Information Systems Inc. (CIS) 1.75 to 24.64, Sapient Corp. (SAPE) 95 cents to 12.88, and Ocean Power Technologies, Inc (OPTT) 47 cents to 6.16.

On the downside, ultra-short ETFs got hammered today. The Direxion Daily Emrg Mkts Bear 3X Shares (EDZ) was down 2.18 to 23.27, the iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (VXX) down 2.37 to 46.95, and the Direxion Daily Small Cap Bear 3X Shares (TZA) down 1.30 to 18.60.

Other losers today were Coinstar Inc. (CSTR) down 1.08 to 63.35, Motricity, Inc. (MOTR) down 3.13 to 26.61, and SodaStream International Ltd. (SODA) down another 1.16 to 31.84 after yesterday’s big loss.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices gapped up big after strong economic news, ran hard, reached their peaks just before lunch hour, only to back off and consolidate for the rest of the day. But they still held onto most of their gains on good technicals.

So, a very solid day and a significant one technically as key initial short-term resistance and trend lines were broken to the upside.

A bad day for the bears, indeed.

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