The stock market indices had a very strong day to close out the week as they gapped up sharply on positive news from overseas, and ran all morning until midday when they consolidated, and then pulled back in the afternoon. They did bounce in the last 15 - 20 minutes to take back some of the losses.

Net on the day, the Dow was up 259.68 at 12,153.68, the S&P 500 up 24.16 to 1263.85, and the Nasdaq 100 up 43.71at 2355.78.

Advance-declines were nearly 6 to 1 positive on the New York Stock Exchange, and 3 1/2 to 1 positive on Nasdaq with 1973 up and 538 down. Volume was light today, but the volume plurality was tremendous. Up/down volume was 12-13 to 1 on New York with 688 million shares to the upside and 51 million to the downside. Nasdaq traded 1 1/3 billion up and only 227 million down, and had a 6 to 1 positive volume ratio.

TheTechTrader.com, as a result, had quite a few point-plus gainers today. In the low-priced sector, leading the way was Mitek Systems Inc. (MITK) jumping 1.38 to 9.55, up 17%, on 1.3 million. That’s very heavy volume for that stock. Earnings may be coming out Monday.

Other stocks of note included ServiceSource International, In (SREV) up 1.73 to 14.60, NXP Semiconductors NV (NXPI) 1.03 to 16.62, Golar LNG Ltd. (GLNG) 2.95 to 40.90, Universal Display Corp. (PANL) 3.16 to 52.59, Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) 2.63 to 87.75, International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) 4.03 to 187.38, InterDigital, Inc. (IDCC) 1.63 to 45.67, and Goldman Sachs (GS) 2.16 to 101.66.

In addition, some of the low-priced stocks fared pretty well today. Spanish Broadcasting System Inc. (SBSA) was up 99 cents to 3.10, 46%; Netlist Inc. (NLST) up 27 cents to 1.92, or 16%; Pizza Inn Holdings, Inc. (PZZI) 77 cents to 6.00, or 14 1/2%; Immersion Corporation (IMMR) 64 cents to 5.50, or 13%; and Primo Water Corporation (PRMW) 48 cents to 3.54, on 1.9 million, or 16%.

TPC Group Inc (TPCG) had an incredible day, closing up 5.58 to 25.40, or 28%.

Spreadtrum Communications Inc. (SPRD) hit new all-time highs, up 2.14 to 28.71, and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (GMCR) snapped back 2.82 to 43.71. Tesla Motors, Inc. (TSLA) gained 2.31 to 33.64, and Insulet Corporation (PODD) 1.24 to 18.54.

Direxion Daily Small Cap Bull 3X Shares (TNA) advanced 3.43 to 47.16.

On the downside, Apple Inc. (AAPL) was not able to join the party today, although it did come 4 points off its low to close down 60 cents to 384.62. Molycorp, Inc. (MCP) was down a whopping 5.25 to 33.45 to lead the losers.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices, which snapped back sharply yesterday, continued higher this morning with a big thrust on the opening. They rallied sharply and strongly until late in the morning when they backed off, and then they consolidated to early afternoon. They tried on multiple occasions to get through the 2363-64 zone on the NDX and through the 1266-67 area on the S&P 500, and when they were unable to get through, they backed off to retest in the afternoon only to snap back in the last 15 - 20 minutes.

They closed extremely positive on the day with great technicals. Let’s see what happens next week.

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