The indices had an extremely strong session, particularly in the afternoon when they rallied from the session lows to stage a strong 3-wave rally, putting them up near the key resistance levels of the last week or so. That rally came as a result of release of the Fed Beige Book notes, which Wall Street interpreted as positive for equities

But it was in the morning when the indices gapped up and ran hard but then settled back and made new session lows on the Nasdaq, not confirmed by the S&P 500. That and the Beige Book release contributed to the rally in the afternoon, which was also fed by short covering.

The technicals were strong, particularly on the NYSE, where advance-declines were better than 3 to 1 positive. They were a little bit more than 2 to 1 positive on Nasdaq. Up/down volume, however, was where the story was, positive by about 6 Ã,½ to 1 on New York and 4 to 1 on Nasdaq. Total volume was a little less than 1.6 billion on New York and a little less than 2.1 billion on Nasdaq.

The vast majority of the stocks on TheTechTrader.com board were higher today, led by DXP Enterprises (DXPE), which ran hard in the afternoon and closed up 3.72. China GrenTech (GRRF) exploded late in the session and ran hard, up 1.95 on the day. Metabolix (MBLX) was up 1 dollar, and VASCO Data Security (VDSI) 1.12.

Among other stocks, portfolio position Color Kinetics (CLRK) was up 85 cents, Cree Inc. (CREE) 80 cents, Novatel (NVTL) 90 cents, and portfolio position Exide Technologies (XIDE) snapped back an additional 64 cents today.

On the downside, there were only fractional losses. Taser (TASR) was down 35 cents, and the QID off 94 cents, which would be expected on a day like this.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices moved back up late in the afternoon across their declining tops lines and moving averages on the hourly charts and now are poised to test and perhaps break through key overhead resistance in the 1918-20 zone on the Nasdaq 100 as well as the 1515 area on the S&P, where it closed today.

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.