The stock market indices had a very good day today, spurred on by news midday from the FOMC that they would accommodate an easy interest-rate policy at least until 2014. That took the market by surprise.

The day started out with a very interesting scenario. Apple Inc. (AAPL) was up by 25-30 points. The Nasdaq 100 obviously gapped up. The S&P 500 did not do so, but there was a slight move up, and then a move down, which tested support and then held. When that happened, they rallied sharply the rest of the day until the FOMC news, at which point they exploded. They formed a wedge in the afternoon, and broke out into the end of the day, before a late pullback brought them off the highs. The S&P 500 reached over 1328, right into my next target of 1328. The NDX reached 2470 and change, not far from my 2474-5 target. We’re up against resistance in this zone.

Net on the day, the Dow was up 82.95 at 12,758.85, the S&P 500 up 11.41 to 1326.06, and the Nasdaq 100 up 31.70 at 2465.66.

Advance-declines were 3 to 1 positive on the New York Stock Exchange, and 2 to 1 positive on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 4 to 1 positive on New York, with total volume of over 800 million shares traded today. Nasdaq traded about over 1.8 billion shares and had a 2 1/2-3 to 1 positive volume ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board, as a result, had a lot of big gainers today. Genetic Technologies Ltd. (GENE) was up 1.05 to 4.35, or 32%; Complete Genomics, Inc. (GNOM) up 49 cents to 2.99, or 20%; US Airways Group, Inc. (LCC) 1.11 to 7.52, or 17%; Textron Inc. (TXT) 3.15 to 24.76, or 15%, on 17.9 million shares; CA Inc. (CA) 2.21 to 25.03, or nearly 10%; and Molycorp, Inc. (MCP) up 2.23 to 31.14, or 7%.

Rare-earths were moving today with Avalon Rare Metals Inc. (AVL) up 31 cents to 3.20, or 11%, and Rare Element Resources Ltd. (REE) up 46 cents to 6.14, or 8%.

Builders were strong today. Hovnanian Enterprises (HOV) was up 26 cents to 2.64, or 11%, and KB Home (KBH) up 54 cents to 9.79.

Other gainers on our board included Human Genome Sciences Inc. (HGSI), in a firm biotech group, up 79 cents to 9.92, or 8.7%, on 15 million shares. Research In Motion Limited (RIMM) was up 1.29 to 16.30, and Terex Corp. (TEX) 1.67 to 20.97.

Silver and gold stocks were very strong, with First Majestic Silver Corp. (AG) advancing 1.49 to 19.10, Endeavour Silver Corp. (EXK) 72 cents to 10.78, and Pan American Silver Corp. (PAAS) 52 cents to 22.37.

MAKO Surgical Corp. (MAKO) was up 2.79 to 37.13 on takeover rumors, Fluidigm Corporation (FLDM) up 1.03 to 14.86, and iGATE Corporation (IGTE) up 1.18 to 17.74, among other gainers on our board today.

In addition, Apple Inc. (AAPL), as we already mentioned, jumped 26.25 to 446.66 on blow-out earnings yesterday. Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) gained 2.37 to 95.04, but in the aftermarket it was up another 15 points as they also blew out earnings.

On the downside, the ultra-shorts got hammered. VelocityShares Daily 2x VIX ST ETN (TVIX), which got up to 19.97, closed down 1.58 to 17.72, and the iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (VXX) down 1.17 to 26.65. The ProShares UltraShort Silver (ZSL) dropped 98 cents to 10.52.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices had a mixed opening, but after stabilizing in the morning, they rallied sharply higher, and then consolidated mid-afternoon, and extended their gains before backing off in the last 10 minutes. Nevertheless, there were solid gains and good technicals today.

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