The indices put on a good showing and despite two periods of pullback they managed to close on the plus side.

The day started out with a move that took them down for the morning session rather sharply, tested support on the S&P at the 1170 range and held, slightly dipped below the 1448-50 zone on the NDX but managed to right itself mid-morning and had a strong rally through the lunch hour and into early afternoon.  They reached the mid-day peaks after breaking out across 1463 resistance on the NDX and across 1177 on the S&P.  But the indices couldn't maintain that, and had a mid-afternoon sell-off that took out minor support, held at secondary support, and then a very strong rally in the last 45 minutes put the indices back into the plus column.

The Dow was up 39, the S&P up 7 1/2, the NDX up also around 7 1/2, the Composite up 12 1/3 and the SOX up 1 3/4.

The technicals were better on New York today than on Nasdaq, with advance-declines 22 to 10 positive and up/down volume 3 1/2 to 1 positive.  Total volume was a little lighter, at about 1.3 billion.  Nasdaq had about 1.4 billion traded, with a 9 to 5 positive ratio on volume and a 19 to 11 positive ratio on advance-declines.

TheTechTrader.com board was very active today and had a very strong session.  Dynamic Materials (BOOM) snapped back by 2.43 on strong volume.  Chart of the Week Watchboard stock Forward Industries (FORD) was up 2.21 on strong volume.  JAMDAT Mobile (JMDT) was up another 1.17 following up on last week's strength, and Georesources (GEOI) was up 1.05.

Taser (TASR) was up a strong 1.50 on 13 million shares.  Medicore (MDKI) was up 70 cents and Nanogen (NGEN) snapped back 52 cents, a solid gain for that low-priced stock.

On the downside, there were just small fractional losses for most stocks.  Parlux Fragrances (PARL) did give back 67 cents, but that was the only stock down more than a dime or so.

Stepping back and reviewing the overall patterns, the rally that we've had for the last week and a half or so continued today and broke out above key overhead resistance, with a late surge taking the indices near the highs for the session at the close.

Today's mid-day decline was a solid test of support and it held.

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.