The indices had a very strong snapback session from yesterday's losses, and it was a positive session from pretty much the get-go.  The initial move was up to test yesterday afternoon's highs.  They backed off right at that level, retested the intraday moving averages and held them, then had a very strong morning rally right into the lunch hour.  After that a couple hours of consolidation and then an afternoon extension of the rally took them to the highs for the day before a last half-hour pullback brought them off the highs for the day.

Net on the day the Dow was up 60, the S&P 500 10 1/2, the Nasdaq 100 a whopping 24, and that was chiefly because the SOX was up more than 4 percent, up 22.68, a huge move that certainly pushed the NDX higher for most of the session.

The technicals were very positive by about 23 to 8 on advance-declines on New York and 21 to 9 1/2 on Nasdaq.  Up/down volume was very strong today, about 3 1/2 to 1 positive on New York on total volume of 1.6 billon.  Nasdaq traded 2 1/4 billion with a 4 1/2 to 1 positive ratio on up/down volume.

TheTechTrader.com board was very active, mostly higher, led by far by Broadcom (BRCM), up 3.11.  Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) snapped back 2.41, and Nastech (NSTK) was up 2.04.

Universal Display (PANL), one of our Charts of the Week, was up a dollar today, and the SMH advanced 1.51 as a result of the SOX strength today.

Among other key gainers, Parlux Fragrances (PARL) advanced 92 cents, portfolio position Pacific Ethanol (PEIX) up 85 cents, and PW Eagle (PWEI) 71 cents.  Rediff.com India (REDF) 36 cents, Radvision (RVSN) 33 cenets, TradeStation (TRAD) 37 cents, and BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (BCRX) 46 cents.

On the downside, Applied Signal (APSG), one of our portfolio positions, got hammered for 3.19 today after an earnings report disappointment.  There were very few other losses, and they were just fractional.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, key short-term resistance was taken out, as the indices first held support in the morning and then bounced back smartly. 

The NDX challenged the recent rally highs near 1700, getting to as high as 1697 today before backing off late in the session. The S&P was behind a bit but also had a strong move today.  It remains to be seen if the rally is still intact or whether this is just a snapback at the beginning of a new downtrend. 

So the jury is still out on which direction they'll take.  We'll be watching carefully resistance at 1700 NDX and 1297 S&P, and support at 1665 NDX and 1278 S&P.

Good trading

Harry Boxer is a technical consultant to many Wall Street hedge funds and large institutional traders, and author of TheTechTrader.com, a real-time diary of his day, swing and intermediate-term trades. For more of Harry Boxer, sign up for a FREE 15-day trial to his Real-Time Technical Trading Diary, or sign up for a Free 30-Day Trial to his Top Charts of the Week service.