The market had another very positive day today, although afternoon profit-taking wiped out a chunk of the gains.

The day started out with a dip that held support, and then they rallied very strongly, taking the Dow to new all-time highs and the NDX to new four-month highs.  The S&P 500 failed to take out the high from a couple weeks ago near 1390, falling just short.

Mid-day they consolidated, but when they failed to breakout to the upside they rolled over and tested support, bouncing a couple times.  Only a last 10-minute snapback brought them off the afternoon lows.

Net on the day the Dow was up about 48, the S&P 500 gaining 3, the Nasdaq 100 up 9, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) up also 9.

The technicals were positive by 18 to 14 on New york and 16 to 14 on Nasdaq.  Up/down volume was 8 to 7 positive on New York on 1.5 billion traded.  Nasdaq traded around 2 billion with a 14 to 6 positive ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board  was generally higher.  The star of the day by far was Fuel Tech (FTEK), which exploded after its earnings report, trading 1.9 millions shares, up 4.35 to a new all-time high.  Broadcom (BRCM) leapt strongly, passing 32, up 1.75.  CROX, a new one weââ,¬â"¢re following, was up more than 3 points today on 5.7 million.  And NVE Corp. (NVEC) jumped 1.30 as well.

Other gainers of note, Apple Computer (AAPL) gained 80 cents, Pacific Ethanol (PEIX) 86 cents, and SVI up 60 cents.

On the downside, Lumera (LMRA) gave back 62 cents, Evergreen Solar (ESLR) 23 cents, DXP Enterprises (DXPE) 84 cents, and Acorda Therapeutics (ACOR) 99 cents.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, important resistance was taken out today and the indices exploded in the morning, but the afternoon pullback was more of precautionary selling into tonightââ,¬â"¢s elections.

The failure of the SPX to confirm the Dow and NDX is a minor negative divergence, and weââ,¬â"¢ll see if that means anything tomorrow morning.

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.