It was a big day on Wall Street to finish the week. The stock market indices blasted ahead from the get-go, with big opening gaps. They ran hard in the morning, and by mid-morning they started to consolidate, but in bullish flag-type fashion. Midday, they rallied to new highs, and then backed off in the afternoon to consolidate. They came on at the end of the day to make nominal new highs, just above 1345 on the S&P 500, but did not do so on the Nasdaq 100.

Nevertheless, it was a big day.

Net on the day, the Dow gained 156.82 at 12,862.23. The S&P 500 was up 19.36 to 1344.90, not far off the high, and the Nasdaq 100 up 33.34 at 2529.17, 3 points off its high.

Advance-declines were 4 to 1 positive on the New York Stock Exchange, and about 4 to 1 positive on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 5 to 1 positive on New York, with total volume of a little over 900 million shares traded today. Nasdaq traded about 2.1 billion-plus shares and about 6 to 1 positive volume ratio.

So, it was a very nice day with increasing volume.

TheTechTrader.com board, as a result, was incredibly strong, with many multiple-point gainers today. Leading the way percentage-wise was Threshold Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (THLD) up 1.70 to 2.99, or 133.70, on 13 million shares, or a 5000% increase in volume. What a day for Threshold! Zoltek Companies Inc. (ZOLT) jumped 3.64 to 13.11, or 38 1/2%. We traded both of those today.

Low-priced Motricity, Inc. (MOTR) was up 32 cents to 1.28, or 33%; EntreMed, Inc. (ENMD) 40 cents to 2.35, or 20 1/2%; Constant Contact, Inc. (CTCT) 4.22 to 30.22, or 16% after earnings; Silicon Image, Inc. (SIMG) 76 cents to 5.86, or 15% on 5.6 million; Jive Software, Inc. (JIVE) 2.20 to 17.09, or 15%; Infinera Corporation (INFN) 1.07 to 8.38, or 15%; Ixia (XXIA) 1.81 to 14.55, or 14%; Genworth Financial Inc (GNW) 1.13 to 9.17, or 14%; Velti Plc (VELT) 1.23 to 10.25, or 13 1/2%; Sony Corporation (SNE) 2.12 to 19.21, or 12 1/2%; KB Home (KBH) 1.22 to 10.81, or 13%; American Superconductor Corporation (AMSC) 62 cents to 5.78, or 12%; and KV Pharmaceutical Co. (KV-A), up 27 cents to 2.66, or 11%.

Other stocks of note included GSV Capital Corp (GSVC) 1.94 to 20.45, Acme Packet, Inc. (APKT) 2.80 to 33.69, USG Corporation Common Stock (USG) 1.14 to 15.16, BroadVision, Inc. (BVSN) 2.54 to 34.14, and Polypore International Inc. (PPO) 2.95 to 46.83, an outstanding move for this stock.

Apple Inc. (AAPL) was up 4.56 to 459.68, tagging 460 even, a new all-time high. Goldman Sachs (GS) jumped 4.14 to 117.53, Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) 2.43 to 126.43, Universal Display Corp. (PANL) 2.09 to 47.83, SolarWinds, Inc. (SWI) 2.03 to 34.66, SodaStream International Ltd. (SODA) 1.03 to 40.46, and Questcor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (QCOR) snapped back 1.53 to 36.61.

In addition, ultra-long financial Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X Shares (FAS) was up 6.21, and vaulted past 90 to 90.80, and Direxion Daily Small Cap Bull 3X Shares (TNA) jumped 4.00 to 63.13.

You can see, it was a big day today on Wall Street.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices gapped up early, ran early, posted midday highs, and consolidated the rest of the day, but didn’t give back much. In fact, the S&P 500 made a nominal high near the close.

It was a big day, and a great way to close the week on the indices. We’ll see how it goes next week.

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