The market had an extremely strong follow-up to yesterdayââ,¬â"¢s rally, completing a five-wave advance off yesterday morningââ,¬â"¢s lows and closing strongly and near the highs for the day.

The day started out with a move up.  They moved steadily higher all morning, reaching 1600 resistance on the NDX, and around the 1308 level on the S&P 500, just about at the 11 oââ,¬â"¢clock hour.  They consolidated for the next couple hours, through lunch hour, and in the early afternoon they took off again, took out the highs and moved strongly higher, before moving into a late consolidation/flag pattern, but not breaking up or down from that pattern and closing right there.

The Dow was up more than 101 today, just under 11,500.  The S&P 500 was up a strong 13 Ã,½ at 1313, and the Nasdaq 100 up nearly 32 at nearly 1616, a new 2006 high.  The S&P 500ââ,¬â"¢s high today at 1314.28 was just a shade under its high of a couple weeks ago.

The technicals were extremely strong by a 3 to 1 positive advantage on advance-declines on New York and a little less than that on Nasdaq.  Up/down volume, however, was the story, particularly on Nasdaq, where the ratio was 11 to 1 positive on total volume of 2 billion shares.  New York traded more than 1 Ã,¾ billion, with a 3 Ã,½ to 1 positive ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board  was mostly green across the board.  The gainers were led by far by FortuNet (FNET), which continued its very strong run of late, accelerating today, moving from 10 to over 16, closing at 15.77, up 5.87 on 3 1/3 million.

Dynamic Materials Corp. (BOOM) advanced 2.01 on a contract announcement, and Broadcom (BRCM) 1.90. IIVI, a new one we traded today, closed up 1.92, breaking out to a new all-time high. Hansen Natural Corp. (HANS) snapped back from recent losses, up 1.85.

Other gainers of note, Silicon Image (SIMG) popped 91 cents to a new 2 year high on 3 Ã,¼ million, Rambus (RMBS) up 75 cents, Qualcomm (QCOM) 84 cents, NRMX up 91 cents, and All Scripts Healthcare (MDRX) up 84 cents.  The SMH advanced 94 cents.

On the downside, star loser of the day was NVE Corp. (NVEC),  which got downgraded and got hammered in the afternoon, giving back all of the earlier gains and then some, backing 5 1/2 points off its session high, down 3 Ã,¼ on the day.  VSNT gave back 68 cents and GIGM 47 cents.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, as indicated earlier the Nasdaq 100 made new 2006 highs today as it thrust through the old highs.  The S&P 500 thrust right up to its old high, and will be testing it tomorrow, but certainly a very positive day for the bulls not only price-wise but in terms of the underlying breadth as well.

Weââ,¬â"¢ll see if we can extend the rally tomorrow.

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.