The markets certainly had a good start to the week with an up-day, especially in the morning when the market made most of its upside progress. 

The session started off with a mixed to lower opening, and then they rallied strongly in the morning to retest Fridayââ,¬â"¢s highs, backed off there on the Nasdaq 100 but took them out on the S&P 500. The indices had rallied in a five-wave advance through early afternoon, at which point they hit their session highs, with the S&P making a new 3 Ã,½-month high at 1305.  The NDX double-topped for the intraday session, and fell far short of its August high, which is closer to the 1584-85 area, reaching as high as 1574, so falling about 11-12 points short.  At that point they rolled over, backed off, formed mini head-and-shoulders intraday top pattern and then broke the intraday necklines, but snapped back late in the day to avoid a much steeper pullback.

Net on the day, the Dow gained 68, the S&P 500 about 6.70, and the Nasdaq 100 around 12 Ã,½.  The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) was up 4 Ã,¾.

It was a solid day technically with advance-declines a little less than 2 Ã,½ to 1 positive on the NYSE and 2 to 1 on Nasdaq.  Up/down volume was 8 to 3 positive, but only 1.4 billion traded in New York.   Nasdaq traded about 1 1/3 billion, but had a much more positive ratio at 4 to 1. 

TheTechTrader.com board was mostly higher.  There were several point-plus gainers to speak of, led by Travelzoo (TZOO)  up 2.26, Rackable Systems (RACK) up 1.90, NVE Corp.(NVEC)  up 1.11, Akamai (AKAM) 1.07, and Anadigics (ANAD) up 1.02.  AMERCO (UHAL) snapped back 1.36 from previous losses.

Other stocks of note, Chart of the Week DryShips (DRYS) was up 49 cents. Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) advanced 61 cents, and portfolio positions U.S. Global Investors (GROW) was up 58 cents and All Scripts Healthcare (MDRX) up 54 cents.

On the downside the loss leader was Apple Computer (AAPL), which was weak for most of the session, down 1.77 on the day, the only point plus loser on my board.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices took out multi-session declining tops line resistance and then took out price resistance at 1570 on the Nasdaq 100 before backing off and closing near there at the close.  The S&P 500, as indicated earlier, made new 3 Ã,½-month highs before backing off to test support late in the session around the 1300-01 area.

So, today saw overall bullish chart patterns on the hourly charts, with underlying support providing levels from which they can make further upside progress.  But weââ,¬â"¢re looking for a confirmation from the NDX that would take another 15-point advance from where it is now just to get a confirmation of new highs.

So the possibility exists of a negative divergence and lower prices later in the week, but momentum is still strong, and weââ,¬â"¢ll see if market can build upon todayââ,¬â"¢s advance.

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.