The stock market indices had a very, very big day, and an important technical occurrence today as well. The day started out with a gap up at the opening, they ran hard all morning until early afternoon when they consolidated, backed and filled, and tested on the Nasdaq 100, but the S&P 500 continued to make higher highs, reaching 1243 before backing off to 1240.76.

Net on the day, the Dow was up 335.66 at 12,101.99, the S&P 500 up 35.95 to 1241.30, and the Nasdaq 100 up a sharp 66.67 at 2281.94.

Advance-declines were 7 to 1 positive, with 2669 up and 384 down on the New York Stock Exchange, and 5 to 1 positive on Nasdaq, with 2189 up and 459 down. Up/down volume was 2 to 1 positive, with 724 million up and only 21 million down on New York. Nasdaq traded 1.75 billion shares, with 1 billion up and 46 million down, and had a 11 to 1 positive volume ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board had a great day today. Nearly all of the stocks on the board were up, with just a few fractional losers. The big gainer today was Apple Inc. (AAPL), up 13.74 to 395.95. International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) rose 4.35 to 187.24, Golar LNG Ltd. (GLNG) 2.49 to 44.41, First Solar, Inc. (FSLR) 2.38 to 32.88, Goldman Sachs (GS) 3.29 to 90.98, Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) 4.25 to 71.40, and SodaStream International Ltd. (SODA) 1.99 to 32.41.

In addition, Silicon Motion Technology Corp. (SIMO) was up 1.45 to 20.83, SolarWinds, Inc. (SWI) up 1.32 to 30.58, Stamps.com Inc. (STMP) 1.38 to 26.38, Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ONXX) 1.59 to 41.07, Universal Display Corp. (PANL) 1.46 to 34.54, Nu Skin Enterprises Inc. (NUS) 1.86 to 48.33, and Molycorp, Inc. (MCP) 1.79 to 28.87.

Cobalt International Energy, Inc. (CIE), which we traded today, was the big gainer on our board, up 3.76 to 13.86, or 37%.

Other stocks of note included Progenics Pharmaceuticals Inc. (PGNX), up 2.01 to 8.49, or 31%; Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (SLXP) up 3.71 to 46.94, or 9%; and Powerwave Technologies Inc. (PWAV) 42 cents to 1.86, or 31%.

It was a big day for junior solar stocks, as Canadian Solar Inc. (CSIQ) jumped 74 cents to 2.95, or 34%.

Also, Jefferies Group, Inc. (JEF) jumped 2.70 to 14.50, or 22.88%, and Dish Network Corp. (DISH), which we highlighted for our subscribers, was up 2.32 to 27.46. Fusion-io Inc. (FIO) added 1.77 to 23.39, Spreadtrum Communications Inc. (SPRD) 1.75 to 21.38, Acme Packet, Inc. (APKT) 2.47 to 32.23, and Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. (NOG), one of our favorite junior oils, 1.90 to 23.57.

Among the ultra ETFs, the Direxion Daily Small Cap Bull 3X Shares (TNA) gained 4.89 to 44.42, and the Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X Shares (FAS) jumped 6.09 to 61.49. We picked both of these at the opening today.

The ultra-shorts got hammered today, with the VelocityShares Daily 2x VIX ST ETN (TVIX) falling 4.73 to 33.46, the Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3X Shares (FAZ) down 4.70 to 39.86, and the Direxion Daily Small Cap Bear 3X Shares (TZA) dropping 3.79 to 27.05.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices gapped up and ran hard all morning in a stair-step fashion. They reached their highs for the day on the NDX around midday, but the S&P 500 just kept going higher. The NDX did not confirm those highs, which could be some concern for tomorrow, but let’s see if we get a follow-through.

Certainly today looked like it broke the back of the recent, 3-week downtrend, and that could have been the potential for a year-end rally.

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