The stock market indices had a big day today as they gapped up huge at the open. They backed off just slightly and then reached their session highs in the first 30-40 minutes. The next couple hours was spent pulling back ever so slightly in a bull flag-type fashion, but when support held around mid-afternoon they bounced back late in the session and closed with solid gains.

Net on the day, the Dow was up 186.79 at 12,453.54, the S&P 500 up 17.74 at 1330.36, and the Nasdaq 100 up 50.99 at 2357.76.

Technicals, which were solidly higher, confirmed the positive day. Advance-declines were very positive by 5 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange and 3 1/2 to 1 positive on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 3 1/2 to 1 positive on New York with total volume of about 950 million. Nasdaq traded 2.1 billion and had a 6 to 1 positive ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board had another big day today, with many multiple-point winners. Leading the way by far was Polaris Industries, Inc. (PII), which jumped 19.10 to 110.28. At one point it was up nearly 25%.

Other gainers of note included Golar LNG Ltd. (GLNG), a swing trade of ours, up 4.23 to 30.50, and TiVo Inc. (TIVO), up 2.47 to 10.84, a nearly 30% gain on a positive court ruling. IntraLinks Holdings, Inc. (IL) advanced 2.55 to 30.91, Silicon Motion Technology Corp. (SIMO) 1.18 to 10.13, and OmniVision Technologies Inc. (OVTI) 1.73 to 32.10 in a very strong semiconductor group, which included NXP Semiconductors NV (NXPI), up 2.12 to 33.57.

In addition, Apple Inc. (AAPL) jumped 4.55 to 342.41, and was trading about $8-9 higher in the aftermarket after a solid earnings release. Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) gained 5.05 to 183.87, and Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG) was up 8.25 to 288.10, but was down 15 points in the aftermarket after releasing earnings. TriMas Corporation (TRS) rose 2.53 to 23.94, and swing trade Ultratech, Inc. (UTEK) was up 2.00 to 27.02.

RealPage, Inc. (RP) 1.29 to 30.09, Rackspace Hosting, Inc (RAX) 1.74 to 43.92, swing trade LSB Industries Inc. (LXU) up 1.62 to 39.30, Brigham Exploration Co. (BEXP) 1.20 to 34.46, and Allot Communications Ltd. (ALLT) 1.09 to 15.82 were among the point-plus gainers on our board.

On the downside, losses from the rare-earth group included Molycorp, Inc. (MCP), down 2.49 to 71.47, and Rare Element Resources Ltd. (REE), down 7 cents to 14.05. Perfect World Co., Ltd. (PWRD) lost 94 cents to 27.20, and Ocz Technology Group Inc. (OCZ) got hammered down to 6.25, but rallied to close at 8.23, still down 1.37 on 28 million today.

Ultra-short ETF Direxion Daily Small Cap Bear 3X Shares (TZA) dropped 2.30 to 35.16, the iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (VXX) lost 1.12 to 25.65, the Direxion Daily Large Cap Bear 3X Shares (BGZ) was down 1.60 to 34.98, and the Direxion Daily Emrg Mkts Bear 3X Shares (EDZ) fell 1.28 to 16.49.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were up sharply with big gaps at the opening, ran to session highs in the morning, and then consolidated the rest of the day before firming into the close.

A very solid day for the bulls indeed.

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