The stock market indices had another strong session today after a gap up in the morning, reaching nominal new highs, and then pulling back sharply. Support held and they rallied for the rest of the session in very similar patterns as they did yesterday. They were near session highs at the end of the day when they pulled back slightly, only this time they bounced back into the close.

Net on the day, the Dow was up 186.45 at 11,433.18, just pennies off its high. The S&P 500 was up 20.43 at 1209.11, right at its high. The Nasdaq 100 was up 33.81 at 2286.56, just 3 points off its high and 35 points off its low. So, it was a good day there.

Advance-declines were more than 3 to 1 positive on the New York Stock Exchange, and about 2 to 1 positive on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 8 to 1 positive on New York, with total volume of only 958 million shares traded today. Nasdaq traded 1.95 billion shares and had a 3 1/2 to 1 positive volume ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board was mixed today, but mostly higher, accept for the ultra shorts, which obviously had a bad session today. The VelocityShares Daily 2x VIX ST ETN (TVIX) got slammed today, down 6.45 to 57.71, the Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3X Shares (FAZ) down 3.97 to 53.78, and Direxion Daily Small Cap Bear 3X Shares (TZA) off 1.73 to 40.90.

There were some big winners on the board today. They included Transcept Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (TSPT), up 2.66 to 6.00 even reaching as high as 6.90, or 80%, on an amazing 7.7 million shares.

Other gainers of note included Newcastle Investment Corp. (NCT) up 92 cents to 5.87, International Paper Co. (IP) 89 cents to 27.78, and VIVUS Inc. (VVUS) 41 cents to 8.88. Also, two ultra shorts in metals were gainers today. They included ProShares UltraShort Gold (GLL) up 50 cents to 16.11, and ProShares UltraShort Silver (ZSL) up 46 cents to12.47.

In addition, Apple Inc. (AAPL) gained 3.66 to 392.96, Goldman Sachs (GS) up 3.43 to 107.97, and International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) 2.85 to 170.09.

China North East Petroleum Holdings Limited (NEP) was up 53 cents to 3.04, or 21%, on 1.4 million shares traded. HCA Inc. (HCA) gained 2.23 to 20.84, or 12%, on 7.3 million shares, with Aeroflex Holding Corp. (ARX) up 85 cents to 10.01, or 9%. Crosstex Energy Inc. (XTXI) advanced 1.39 to 14.54, or 10 1/2%, on 2 million shares; Endologix Inc. (ELGX) 81 cents to 10.92, or 8%, on 1.2 million shares; and Rediff.com India Ltd. (REDF) 69 cents to 8.99, or 8%, on 1.3 million shares. Coinstar Inc. (CSTR) gained 3.27 to 48.49. Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ALXN) 3.99 to 64.08, NXP Semiconductors NV (NXPI) 1.19 to 20.29, Rambus Inc. (RMBS) 77 cents to 13.44, Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. (NOG) 98 cents to 22.41, and Focus Media Holding Ltd. (FMCN) 1.19 to 30.51

On the downside, there were several losers of note. Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) had a very bad day due to some bad news on subscriber losses and competitlion. They were down an incredible 39.46 to 169.25, or 19%, even though they traded over 21 million shares today. The stock was trading over 300 just seven or eight weeks ago.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were up at the opening, backed off, and then came on strong to new rally highs, but then sold off sharply to take the NDX from 2280 to 2254. The S&P 500 at that point dropped from nearly 1205 down to 1191. However, they turned around and rallied for the rest of the session until the last hour reaching just under 2290 on the NDX and as high as 1209 and change on the S&P 500. They closed not far off those highs on the NDX, right at the high for the day on the S&P 500, and near it on the Dow.

It was a big day for the bulls. Let’s see what they will do tomorrow.

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