The stock market indices had a mixed session at the end, but the afternoon strong rally brought them right back to key overhead resistance before they backed into the close. Still, it was a very positive day for the blue chips.

Net on the day, the Dow was up 162.42 at 11,869.04, and the S&P 500 up 12.95 at 1242.00, but the Nasdaq 100 was down 1.08 at 2334.79, although it was 43 points off its low.

Advance-declines were 4 to 1 positive on the New York Stock Exchange, and 3 to 1 positive on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 9 to 2 positive on New York, with total volume of 1.1 billion shares traded today. Nasdaq traded over 2 billion shares and had a 3 to 2 positive volume ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board was mostly higher, with some very strong gainers today. Leading the way, Questcor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (QCOR) was up 7.13 to 40.43, or 21%, after stellar earnings. Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ONXX) was up 3.44 to 39.46, or 9.5%; Flotek Industries Inc. (FTK) 1.08 to 7.08, or 18%; and Media General, Inc. (MEG) 1.01 to 3.45, or 41%; Manitowoc Co. Inc. (MTW) up 1.91 to 10.56, or 22%; iRobot Corporation (IRBT) 4.94 to 33.24, or 17 1/2%; and Edac Technologies Corp. (EDAC) 1.34 to 9.99, or 15 1/2%.

Cheniere Energy, Inc. (LNG) was the leading percentage gainer today on a huge contract, up 4.20 to 10.32, or 69%.

Some of the low-priced stocks had significant gains as well, with Rentech, Inc. (RTK) up 22 cents to 1.42, or 18%, along with Clearwire Corporation (CLWR) up 32 cents to 1.96, or 19 1/2%, and Anadigics, Inc. (ANAD) 42 cents to 2.75, or 18%.

In addition, a stock we traded today, Valero Energy Corp. (VLO), was up 3.31 to 25.15, or 15%. Alere Inc. (ALR) gained 3.06 to 24.18, or 14 1/2%; Fusion-io Inc. (FIO) 3.08 to 33.72, or 10%; and Twin Disc Inc. (TWIN) 2.78 to 37.52, or 8%.

Other gainers of note included International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), up 1.61 to 181.97, Apple Inc. (AAPL) up 2.83 to 400.60, Molycorp, Inc. (MCP) 1.40 to 38.23, and First Solar, Inc. (FSLR) 2.84 to 46.11, although that was traded as high as 52 1/2 earlier in the day. Goldman Sachs (GS) jumped 5.89 to 106.33.

On the downside, InterDigital, Inc. (IDCC) was down 2.10 to 45.14, MAKO Surgical Corp. (MAKO) down 1.26 to 37.11, Universal Display Corp. (PANL) 1.21 to 46.75. SodaStream International Ltd. (SODA) 2.62 to 29.15, and Youku.com Inc (YOKU) 1.26 to 19.64.

Ultra-shorts were weak today. VelocityShares Daily 2x VIX ST ETN (TVIX) was down 4.92 to 51.33, the Direxion Daily Small Cap Bear 3X Shares (TZA) down 1.75 to 33.22, the Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3X Shares (FAZ) 2.38 to 43.33, and iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (VXX) 1.77 to 42.03.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices started out the day with a gap up, but then hit resistance and immediately collapsed sharply with the Nasdaq 100 falling from 2355 down to 2291 before rebounding to 2335 at close. The S&P 500 dropped from an earlier high of 1243 down to 1222 only to snap back to 1246 and change before the close at 1242 even.

It was a solid snapback day at the end of the day as key support levels were tested successfully.

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.