The stock market indices had a huge day today, gapping up from the get-go, and stair-stepping their way higher all day. Late in the day they did platform, and pulled back a little bit, but for the most part, closed not far off the session highs on a big day.

Net on the day, the Dow closed up 191.40 at 12,258.20, the S&P 500 up a whopping 22.53 at 1330.97, and the Nasdaq 100 up nearly 45.00 at 2371.76.

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

It was a very solid session today.

TheTechTrader.com board had a lot of big percentage gainers today, and several of them were low-priced stocks. Leading the way was Sauer-Danfoss Inc. (SHS) up 9.87 to 40.18, a 33% gain today. Apple Inc. (AAPL) jumped 7.44 to 359.56 and set a new all-time high. Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG) was up 4.03 to 246.85, Goldman Sachs (GS) up 2.80 to 164.49, and InterMune Inc. (ITMN) 3.06 to 40.23. OmniVision Technologies Inc. (OVTI) had a stellar day, up 2.68 to 33.49, and Travelzoo Inc. (TZOO) up 2.40 to 43.50.

In the low-priced sector USA Technologies Inc. (USAT) jumped 72 cents to 2.50 up 40%. China Marine Food Group Limited (CMFO) rose 1.11 to 4.95 up 29%. DUSA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (DUSA) was up 88 cents to 4.08, a 28% gain. Superconductor Technologies Inc. (SCON) added 78 cents to 3.73, up 26%, and Silicon Graphics International Corp. (SGI), current swing trade of ours, was up 2.72 to 18.14. up 18%. Kongzhong Corp. (KONG) advanced 1.10 to 8.1,7 up 15%, and Biolase Technology, Inc. (BLTI) 59 cents to 3.69, up 19%.

Among other stocks of note, Molycorp, Inc. (MCP) was up 1.06 to 49.83, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (JAZZ) 1.04 to 26.26, and Spreadtrum Communications Inc. (SPRD) 1.10 to 21.62, but trading 3 points higher in the aftermarket after strong earnings.

On the downside, ultra-short ETFs obviously got hammered. The Direxion Daily Small Cap Bear 3X Shares (TZA) dropped 2.74 to 37.86, the Direxion Daily Large Cap Bear 3X Shares (BGZ) 1.99 to 35.96, the Direxion Daily Emrg Mkts Bear 3X Shares (EDZ) 1.33 to 20.49, and the iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (VXX) 1.65 to 30.88.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were up sharply at the opening and went higher all day. They pulled back mid-afternoon, but kept going, made new highs by late in the session, and then pulled back in the last hour. But still, it was a very strong session for the indices.

However, both the NDX and SPX closed right at key overhead resistance. Whether they can extend or not is still uncertain, but if they fail here, it will be an important failure. Let’s see how it goes tomorrow.

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