It was a significant day and the indices closed very strongly near the highs for the day.

The day started out with a move up at the get-go.  They consolidated in the morning, broke out an hour after the session began, ran to the mid-day highs, consolidated for a couple more hours and then slowly edged their way higher to retest the highs.  When they went through them in mid-afternoon, the indices popped and moved higher the rest of the session.

Net on the day the Dow was up 127 and change, and just 8 points from the high for the day.  The S&P 500 was up 14 1/2 points, less than a 1/2 point from the high. Nasdaq 100 was up 24 1/2 and about a point from the high, and the Composite was up 29, near the high as well. The SOX was up 2 1/2 percent today, up 9.30, and that really helped Nasdaq fly today.

The technicals were very strong, particularly on New York, where there were more than 2500 advancers and less than 800 decliners.  On Nasdaq the story was similar but not quite as strong, with 21 to 9 1/2 positive. 

Up/down volume was very big today, nearly 7 to 1 on New York on a little more than 1 3/4 billion traded.  Nasdaq traded about 1.9 billion, with about 1.5 billion to the upside, or nearly 4 to 1.

TheTechTrader.com board had a couple big winners.  Parlux Fragrances (PARL) on strong upside guidance exploded mid-afternoon, running from 15.80 to 21 1/2, closing at 19.43, up 4.23, a major move there. Medicore (MDKI) was up 1.09  

In the larger cap sector, QLogic (QLGC) advanced 1.32, along with Broadcom (BRCM), up 1.54.  They certainly helped the SOX and the SMH, which was up 61 cents today.  The Qs were up 43 cents.

Other stocks of note, CryptoLogic (CRYP) was up 54 cents, Air T (AIRT) 45 cents, and Dynamic Materials (BOOM) 51 cents.  In the alternative energy sector, DayStar Technologies (DSTI) was up 60 cents and Evergreen Solar (ESLR) nearly 50 cents.

Arrythmia Research (HRT) was up 97 cents and low-priced Nanogen (NGEN) had a very strong day, moving sharply higher, up 57 cents.  Stamps.com (STMP) advanced 89 cents.

On the downside, Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) backed off 38 cents.  There were several others down today, but they were just down small fractions.

Stepping back and reviewing the overall hourly patterns, the significance of today's action was that we broke up through key two-week resistance on the NDX and S&P, and actually took out the declining tops line on the S&P 500 but not on the NDX.

More formidable overall resistance lies ahead, but the S&P looks like it's broken out.  The NDX still has very strong overhead resistance at 1460 level.  S&P resistance is in the 1185-90 zone, but that's still a ways from here.

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.