The stock market indices started off the month with a bang in an explosive move from the get-go that took them sharply higher all morning and reached the rally highs on the Nasdaq 100 just before noon at around 2329. The S&P 500 at that point reached 1308 and change, which was bettered by just a fraction later in the day, but not confirmed on the Nasdaq 100. In any case, the rest of the day was spent backing and filling, pulling back just a little bit in orderly fashion. They tried to rally late in the session, which put the SPX at new highs, but not the NDX. In the last 10 minutes they rolled back, gave back some of the gains, but still the Dow closed over 12,000.

Net on the day, the Dow was up 148.23 at 12,040.16, the S&P 500 up 21.47 at 1307.59, and the Nasdaq 100 up 43.04 at 2324.95.

Advance-declines were 5 to 1 positive on the New York Stock Exchange, and 3 1/2 to 1 positive on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was about 7 to 1 positive on New York on total volume of a little over 1 billion. Nasdaq traded just under 2.5 billion shares and had a positive ratio of about 3 1/2 to 1.

TheTechTrader.com board was mostly higher, with many point-plus gainers in the large-cap sector. Lululemon Athletica Inc. (LULU) advanced 4.52 to 73.20, and Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG) 2.98 to 221.90. Acme Packet, Inc. (APKT) rose 2.14 to 55.92, but was higher in the aftermarket on strong earnings. Apple Inc. (AAPL) gained 5.71 to 345.03, Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) 2.47 to 172.11, and Travelzoo Inc. (TZOO) 2.45 to 49.45.

Other multiple-point gainers of note included ICU Medical, Inc. (ICUI) 4.02 to 43.08, Lexmark International Inc. (LXK) 4.61 to 39.45, Longtop Financial Technologies Limited (LFT) 2.74 to 35.64, ARM Holdings PLC (ARMH) 2.09 to 27.13, American Superconductor Corporation (AMSC) 2.59 to 29.86, Cavium Networks, Inc. (CAVM) 3.41 to 42.95, Manitowoc Co. Inc. (MTW) 3.68 to 17.11, Molycorp, Inc. (MCP) 1.77 to 48.58, E-Commerce China Dangdang Inc. (DANG) 1.39 to 29.69, Imation Corp. (IMN) 1.52 to 11.62, Dice Holdings, Inc. (DHX) 1.92 to 14.98, and Focus Media Holding Ltd. (FMCN) 1.23 to 26.14.

In addition, Quepasa Corp. (QPSA) was up 1.11 to 14.36, and Nanometrics Incorporated (NANO) 1.30 to 18.42.

The percentage-gain leaders today were TravelCenters of America LLC (TA), up 4.69 to 8.94, a 110% gain, and Silicon Motion Technology Corp. (SIMO), up 1.94 to 7.50, or 35%.

There were many other large fractional gainers, too numerous to mention.

On the downside, SodaStream International Ltd. (SODA) lost 1.10 to 41.89, but hit a new all-time high earlier in the session at 44.78, so a reversal session there. China MediaExpress Holdings, Inc. (CCME) was another 1.18 lower to 16.66.

Ultra-short ETF iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (VXX) got smacked for 1.55 to 30.48, the Direxion Daily Emrg Mkts Bear 3X Shares (EDZ) lost 1.65 to 20.83, and the Direxion Daily Small Cap Bear 3X Shares (TZA) dropped 1.07 to 14.45.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices ran sharply in the morning and by midday reached their session highs, consolidated the rest of the day, tried a late rally but couldn’t breakout, and then rolled over in the last 10 minutes. But still, a fantastic gain today.

It was a very strong day for the bulls as several days of overhead resistance was taken out, and the highs were taken out on the S&P 500 as they hit new 2 1/2-year highs.

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