The markets had an up-day, and it was quite a surprise after the start they had.  Pre-market futures were sharply lower and the market opened sharply lower.  But then they started to bounce and picked up steam, rallying right back to key resistance mid-morning before backing off and retesting.  When that was successful, they rallied right through the lunch hour.  After lunch ended they picked up steam again, broke out and exploded, taking the NDX to new rally highs, but just nominally so, near the rally highs of Monday, before backing off late in the session.  The S&P similarly made nominal new rally highs, hitting as high as 1284, taking out yesterdayââ,¬â"¢s double-top just nominally before backing off late in the day.

Net on the day, the Dow was up 42 Ã,½, the S&P 500 up 1 Ã,¾, and the Nasdaq 100 was up 10 points.  The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) was up about 6 Ã,¼, although all of those were off the session highs just an hour before the close.

Techincals were 3 to 2 positive on advance-declines on New York and a like amount on Nasdaq.  Up/down volume was just 9 to 8 positive on New York and about 10 to 7 positive on Nasdaq.  Total volume was more than 1.8 billion on New York, and about 1.7 billion on Nasdaq.

TheTechTrader.com board was active, mixed, mostly narrowly so, but there were some outstanding issues on both sides.  On the plus side, Baidu.com (BIDU) exploded for 4.80, closing near the highs for the day on strong volume.  Dynamic Materials Corp. (BOOM) surged 1.25 today, but after the close released strong earnings and the stock traded up another $2 in the after market.

Other point-plus gainers today included Apple Computer (AAPL), up 1.43, tagging 70 today, some 20 points off the lows of just a couple weeks ago.  Akamai (AKAM) broke through a 5 1/2ââ,¬â€œyear high, over 40, closing up 1.63.

Broadcom (BRCM) was up 71, JBLU 50 cents, MED 50 cents, and Qualcomm (QCOM) 49 cents.

On the downside, Rambus (RMBS) got smacked for another 1.25, but Hansen Natural Corp. (HANS) was the loser of the day, down 3.08 on heavy volume.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the rising channels of the last 3-4 weeks continued today with the indices making nominal new highs, but the Nasdaq 100 is up against very formidable resistance in the 1518-20 zone.  The S&P is up near the early June highs, with those highs up in the 1288-90 zone, todayââ,¬â"¢s high being near 1284, a tad short of that, but they did make nominal new 2-month highs today on the S&P 500 .Even though the late sell-off brought them off the highs, weââ,¬â"¢ll see if the market has the power to push through, take out key resistance and really extend this rally.

Weââ,¬â"¢ll be watching support tomorrow at 1500 and then 1485 on the NDX and 1278 and 1271 on the S&P 500, as well.

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.