It was an extremely strong snapback session, though we weren't surprised since we indicated last evening we expected a snapback rally and we certainly got it and how today.  The futures were strongly higher before the opening, the market gapped up, and ran strongly early on before backing and filling mid-morning.

Then they moved higher, took out the morning highs, and rallied strongly into the afternoon before a mid-afternoon pullback retested successfully.  The NDX made a new 2005 high just before the close.  The S&P had already done so, but did not extend beyond that.

Nevertheless, a very impressive day, with the Dow up 106 3/4, the S&P up more than 15 points, and the Nasdaq 100 up 31 ¾.  A big day for the indices.

The SOX had by far the biggest day we've seen in a long time.  It was up more than 20 points, closing over 500 for the first time since April, and that certainly pushed Nasdaq to higher levels.

The technicals were very strong, confirming the action, with advance-declines positive by more than 3 to 1on New York and about 2 ½ to 1 on Nasdaq.

Volume was heavy, decidedly to the positive side by 4 ½ to 1 on New York with a total of 1.84 billion.  Nasdaq traded over 2 billion shares today, with a 5 ½ to 1 positive ratio on volume.  A very impressive day today.

TheTechTrader.com board today was almost all green, led today by PWEI, which made an important announcement last evening after the close in terms of combining businesses.  The stock was up 3.57 on nearly 2.9 million shares, monster volume for that stock.

IIJI, one of our model portfolio positions, broke out to new five-year highs today, closing up 2.11 on nearly 8 million shares, very heavy volume there.

CNTF was up 2.26 on nearly 1 million shares.  Rounding out the point-plus gainers on our board, BRCM was up 1.07 and the SMH up 1.39, which was a result of the SOX Index being up strongly today.

Other stocks of note on the plus side, RMBS was up 94 cents, REDF up 78 cents, JMDT 83 cents, and BVF snapped back 70 cents.

ARXX was up 51 cents, and HOMS in the low-priced sector up 49 cent son heavy volume.  LEXR, another model portfolio position, went to a new 52-week high, up 35 cents. Another one of our model portfolio stocks, RVSN was up 48 cents on nearly 1.2 million shares.

On the downside, BCRX after yesterday's huge session gave back 1.41 on more than 1 million shares.

Stepping back and reviewing the overall patterns, the very impressive session today took back 5 days of losses on the NDX in just one session, and we settled in at 1704.58, fractionally a new high for 2005.

The S&P 500 did not take back all of its losses but the vast majority of them, and settled in right near overhead resistance at around the 1265-66 zone.   Overhead resistance is obviously right here on the NDX, and we'll see if it can punch through here and extend these gains.

Good trading!

Harry Boxer is a technical consultant to many Wall Street hedge funds and large institutional traders, and author of TheTechTrader.com, a real-time diary of his day, swing and intermediate-term trades. For more of Harry Boxer, sign up for a FREE 15-day trial to his Real-Time Technical Trading Diary, or sign up for a Free 30-Day Trial to his Top Charts of the Week service.