We had a very strong snapback session from yesterday's severe afternoon sell-off after the Fed announced.  The buying was relentless, particularly all morning.  There were a couple of pauses to refresh, but they were consolidative in nature and led to higher prices, as we suspected they would intraday.

The indices reached their peak with a couple hours to go, came down and then retested, but failed and then sold off towards the end of the day a little bit, giving back some of the gains. 

They still ended up 61 on the Dow, more than 9 1/2 on the S&P 500 and nearly 31 on the Nasdaq 100.  The SOX Index was up a whooping 12, or nearly 2 1/2 percent, and really helped Nasdaq's big gain today.

The technicals were very positive by 23 to 10 on New York and 22 to 8 1/2 on Nasdaq on advance-declines.  Up/down volume was even better, particularly on Nasdaq, where the ratio was about 6 to 1 positive.  More than 2 billion traded to the upside there on total volume of a little more than 2.4 billion.  On New York, the ratio was nearly 4 to 1 positive on volume of over 1 1/2 billion.

TheTechTrader.com board was strong to the upside, with many point-plus gainers.  Leading the way were DXP Enterprises (DXPE) and Energy Conversion Devices (ENER),  both up 2 1/2.  Pacific Ethanol (PEIX) was up 2 1/4, Rambus (RMBS) 1.75, and recently added portfolio position LMI Aerospace (LMIA) popped 1.57, closing at the high for the day and near the multi-year highs, acting very well.

Other stocks of note, Chindex (CHDX) was up 46 cents, Dynamic Materials Corp. (BOOM) up 43 cents, Eclipsys (ECLP) up 47 cents, Nuance Communications (NUAN) up 71 cents, and Neoware Systems (NWRE) 78 cents.

On the downside, there were only fractional losses.  DexCom (DXCM) gave back 45 cents, Rediff.com India (REDF) lost 71 cents today and was stopped out of our model portfolio, and Stereotaxis (STXS) gave back 58 cents.

Stepping back and reviewing the overall patterns, the Nasdaq Composite hit a new 5-year high today before backing off late in the session.  The S&P 500 and Dow and NDX are still off their highs for the year.  But considering yesterday's steep sell-off the markets came back with a roar today, which augurs well for future price gains. 

As there is overhead resistance right near here, we'll see if they can pop through tomorrow or whether they're going to be pushed back again.  In any case, this is our last closing analysis until Monday, as TheTechTrader.com will be closed after 3 pm tomorrow so I can catch a flight to London to speak at an international investment conference.

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.