It was a rip-roaring rally today that started out with strong futures before the opening.  The futures got even stronger after economic news was released about an hour before the opening, and they surged at that point.  The market gapped open large, backed and filled early in a bullish consolidation, rallied in the morning, and had another long 3-hour consolidation that looked very bullish and resulted in the afternoon leg-up that closed them at or near the highs for the day.

The Dow was up 132 plus, the S&P 500 17 1/3, and the NDX up a whopping 40 points today.  The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) was up nearly 4 percent, or more than 15 1/4. 

The technicals reflected the strong day today, with the advance-declines 28 to 5 Ã,½ positive on New York and about 22 Ã,¾ to 7 Ã,½ on Nasdaq.

Up/down volume was about 8 to 1 positive on New York on total volume of about 1 Ã,½ billion.  Nasdaq traded about 1 Ã,¾ billion, with about a 12 to 1 positive ratio on up/down volume.  A very big day today technically!

TheTechTrader.com board was mostly higher.  There were a couple outstanding losers.  On the plus side, the leader of the day was Baidu.com (BIDU), which ran hard and late, gaining 5 Ã,¾ on more than 3 million shares today.  Akamai (AKAM) was up 2.70, Apple Computer (AAPL) up 2.51, Garmin (GRMN) up 2.20, Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) 1.52, and Broadcom (BRCM) 1.80. Dynamic Materials Corp. (BOOM) advanced 1 and Qualcomm (QCOM) 1.86. 

Most of the gains today were in the larger-cap and most popular stocks today.

Other stocks of note, however, Travelzoo (TZOO)gained  98 cents, Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) 94 cents, NVE Corp. (NVEC)  up 58 cents, and the Qs (QQQQ) up 93 cents.

On the downside, Medifast (MED) announced their earnings last night and Wall Street didnââ,¬â"¢t like it.  As a result, the stock got creamed for 5.56 today on 6.2 million shares.

U.S. Global Investors (GROW) was down 62 cents, Key Tronic (KTCC) 73 cents, Hansen Natural Corp. (HANS) 49 cents, and Blue Dolphin Energy (BDCO) 39 cents.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, key resistance was taken out, and then on the Nasdaq 100 the  recent rally highs near 1530 were taken out, as the NDX challenged the 4-week highs late in the session.  The S&P trailed a bit, and still has strong resistance up around the 1290-92 zone that needs to be contended with.

Weââ,¬â"¢ll see if we can get additional follow-through tomorrow   and if they can generate additional thrust that can extend this rally.

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.