We had a strikingly similar today to yesterday, only the difference was the market gapped up sharply at the opening for most of its gains for the day. Yesterday morning they opened strong but then ran hard, and then the rest of the day was spent consolidating. Similar action in today’s market, as the indices opened up very strong and then meandered the rest of the session, with the Nasdaq 100, in particular, holding support lows all day. The S&P 500 had a slightly declining pattern, but I’d have to call today a consolidation day despite the big gains.

Net on the day the Dow was up 85.75, the S&P 500 nearly 10, and the Nasdaq 100 nearly 18. The SOXX Index was up almost 8 1/2.

The technicals were very strong today, 26 to 7 on advance-declines on New York and 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was more than 4 to 1 positive on the NYSE with over 2 billion traded. More than 2 Ã,½ billion was traded on Nasdaq. So, a total of 4 Ã,½ billion shares were traded on both exchanges today, which is VERY big volume.

It was an extremely strong way to close the week, with a very strong rebound from Wednesday to Friday, showing the shorts no mercy with a big gap up today.

TheTechTrader.com board, needless to day, was mostly higher. Although there weren’t a lot of large gainers, they were prevalent. JA Solar (JASO) was up 1.53, USA Technologies (USAT) up 1.16, and DXP Enterprises (DXPE) up 1.24. Those were the only point-plus gainers on my board.

Among other gainers of note, Chindex (CHDX) closed at 24.18, up 77 cents to a new 4-month high. Euroseas (ESEA), a European shipping transportation company, popped 85 cents. Force Protection (FRPT) at 26.32 was up 78 cents today, and FuelTek (FTEK) closed at 29, up 92 cents and Global Solutions (GSOL) at 21.50 was up 78 cents.

Halozyme (HALO), one of our portfolio positions, had a late surge in the session, up 53 cents to 10.64. Research Frontiers (REFR) closed strong as well at the highs for the day, at 11.94 up 50 cents. VASCO Data Security (VDSI) was up 52 cents.

On the downside, there were just fractional losses, with Color Kinetics (CLRK) on a downgrade off 73 cents. DG FastChannel (DGIT) lost 31 cents, NVE Corp. (NVEC) 40 cents, and Transcend Services (TRCR) 80 cents.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the Nasdaq 100 hit new multiyear highs today, but the S&P 500 so far has failed to confirm. Last week’s highs were over 1540, and the index reached as high as 1538.71 today before backing off.

We’ll see how next week goes, but the trend is your friend and the trend is still strong.

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.