The stock market indices closed out the week with a bit of a thrust to the upside, finishing at the session highs going away. It was also the weekly and two-year highs. The day started out with a little bit of a surge, backed off, and then when support held, immediately they started to rally. They stair-stepped their way higher all day and closed at the session high with decent gains.

Net on the day, the Dow was up just 45.48 at 11,787.38, the S&P 500 up 9.48 at 1293.24, and Nasdaq 100 up 17.90 at 2323.43. Advance-declines managed to get into the plus column by about 3 to 2 positive on the New York Stock Exchange, and a similar amount on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 2 1/2 to 1 positiveon New York with total volume of just over 1 billion. Nasdaq traded right at 2 billion shares and had about a 2 to 1 positive ratio.

It was a very decent day today with technical confirming it.

TheTechTrader.com board was very active. There was a mixture of gainers and losers. The standout out today on the losing side was Coinstar Inc. (CSTR), getting crushed for 15.45 to 41.50 on nearly 19 million shares traded after some negative news. However, on the plus side there were many gainers. Goldman Sachs (GS) was up 3.42 to 175.00, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG) 5.25 to 234.89, Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) 3.22 to 188.75, and Apple Inc. (AAPL) up 2.80 to 348.48, closing at the high and a new all-time high as well. Several other point-plus gainers included EMBRAER - Empresa Brasileira de Aeron (ERJ) up 2.99 to 33.00, and KLA-Tencor Corporation (KLAC) 2.37 to 42.12. Nanometrics Incorporated (NANO) was the star stock that we traded today, up 3.84 to 17.29, a fantastic percentage gain there. Brooks Automation Inc. (BRKS) was up 1.62 to 11.85, Ariba (ARBA) 1.80 to 25.37, Silicon Graphics International Corp. (SGI) 1.10 to 10.80, and InterMune Inc. (ITMN) 2.36 to 38.78. Cumberland Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (CPIX) jumped 1.05 to 6.72, OmniVision Technologies Inc. (OVTI) 1.15 to 31.00, and Travelzoo Inc. (TZOO), a swing trade idea of ours, 1.64 to 48.80. Acacia Research Corporation (ACTG) advanced 1.10 to 28.87. That completes the point-plus gainers on our board today.

There were quite a few large fractional gainers and nice percentage gains on some of the low-priced stocks. IntelliPharmaCeutics International Inc. (IPCI) gained 62 cents to 4.96, AXT Inc. (AXTI) 73 cents to 11.70, Cheniere Energy, Inc. (LNG) 57 cents to 7.48, Syneron Medical Ltd. (ELOS) 47 cents to 10.76, Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. (MHR) 65 cents to 7.97, LivePerson Inc. (LPSN) 76 cents to 12.09, Magic Software Enterprises Ltd. (MGIC) 63 cents to 7.84, and .com India Ltd. (REDF), another swing trade idea of ours, up 85 cents to 8.12, a nice percentage gain. TranS1, Inc. (TSON) added 60 cents to 8.42, and SuperMedia Inc. (SPMD) 48 cents to 9.90, and Nova Measuring Instruments Ltd. (NVMI) 80 cents to 9.58.

That completes our gainers on our board today.

On the downside, other losers included Gold Resource Corp (GORO) down 1.25 to 27.30, and Golden Minerals Company (AUMN) 1.12 to 21.25 in a weak metal sector. American International Group, Inc. (AIG) lost 3.19 to 54.00, and Rare Element Resources Ltd. (REE) 1.02 to 13.40 in a weak rare-earth sector. So, there’s a little bit of rotation going on in the market. The iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (VXX),down 1.42 to 31.57, was the weakest ETF on our board today.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were mixed near the opening, but shortly thereafter moved higher, and stair-stepped their way higher all day in nice bullish fashion with flags along the way, and closing at the session highs. What more can we say. It was a terrific week.

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