The day started out strong with a gap-up in the morning, but that was the morning highs right there.  The rest of the morning was spent drifting lower in fairly orderly fashion, holding support.  After filling the opening gaps, the indices then moved back up, but didn't break out and drifted sideways again until mid-afternoon, at which point they took off & broke out.  The Dow went to a new 2006 high and the S&P 500 to a new 5-year high.  Nasdaq played a little catch-up at the end of the day, but still has not confirmed the S&P high.  It is still some 12-13 points away from doing that.

Net on the day the Dow was up 58 1/2, the S&P 500 5 1/2, the Nasdaq 100 13 1/3, and the SOX up about 1 1/2 points.

The technicals were 2 to 1 positive on advance-declines on New York and 3 to 2 positive on Nasdaq.  Up/down volume was 2 to 1 positive on New York on total volume of 1.6 billion.  Nasdaq traded more than 2.1 billion, with a 4 to 1 positive ratio, a very strong up-volume day on Nasdaq, with 1.7 billion traded to the upside.

TheTechTrader.com board  was mostly higher, led by far by China Natural Resources (CHNR), which exploded for 3.60 today on nearly 1 million shares, closing near the high for the day going away. 

Portfolio position PW Eagle (PWEI) advanced 1, Evergreen Solar (ESLR) 61 cents, DayStar Technologies (DSTI) 86 cents, Dynamic Materials Corp. (BOOM) 55 cents, Radvision (RVSN) 87 cents, Sify Ltd. (SIFY) 53 cents, and Rediff.com India (REDF) 37 cents.

Versant (VSNT) snapped back by 35 cents and Viisage (VISG) 24 cents, among some of our other portfolio stocks.

Neoware Systems (NWRE) advanced 74 cents, Daystar (DSTI)  48 cents, and Broadcom (BRCM) 1.02.

On the downside, Apple Computer (AAPL) was off 1.09, and BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (BCRX) backed off 29 cents.  But most other stocks on our board were just very fractionally changed.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, obviously a major breakout on the S&P 500 and an important one on the Dow as well.  Even though the NDX trails, the pattern is strong and could get a confirmation if the rally continues.

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.