The FOMC made its announcement today and that triggered a ton of volatility late in the session, but we had some interesting action in the morning, as well.

The day started out with a move down, but got a nice bounce early on, and then had some fairly narrow vacillating action, particularly on Nasdaq. While the S&P 500 was making higher highs, the Nasdaq 100 failed to confirm, and I must say I was a bit concerned at that point, as a result. After the FOMC announcement to hold rates came out, the indices tumbled, but then there were some interesting comments Bill Gross from Pimco that I believe helped trigger the sharp market rally. The NDX ran 45 points, the SPX 32 in just an hour, but a last 20 min sell-off brought them sharply back down, However, they still managed to stay in the plus column at the close.

The Dow, which was all over the place, as high as 13,608 and as low as 13,347, closed at 13,504, pretty close to mid range, up 35.50. The S&P 500 was up 9 on the day, 21 points off the low and 12 points off the high. The Nasdaq 100, 15 off the high but 29 off the low, closed up 7 Ã,¼. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX), which pressured the NDX all day, managed to get into the plus column during the rally, but faded at the close and was down 1.65 today.

The technicals were all over the place but at the end of the day were a little under 3 to 2 positive on advance-declines on New York and 17 to 13 positive on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was nearly 2 to 1 positive on New York on total volume of about 2 Ã,¼ billion. Nasdaq traded almost 2 2/3 billion, with a 15 to 11 positive ratio on advancing volume over declining volume.

TheTechTrader.com board had a very big day, with the vast majority of stocks to the upside. Point-plus gainers were plentiful, led today by Eschelon Corp. (ELON), a member of our Fab 40 list, up another 5.17 on top of yesterday's 3-point gain. JA Solar (JASO) gained 3.91. TTEC rose 3.53. Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX), strong of late, was up another 1.93. FuelTek (FTEK) rebounded sharply, up 1.91, closing at 29.28. That's more than 5 points off of yesterday's low.

DryShips (DRYS) rebounded smartly, up 3.54. Ceragon Networks (CRNT), one of this week's Charts of the Week, was up 1.01. Alvarion (ALVR), also a Chart of the Week, was up 59 cents.

Other stocks of note, Global Solutions (GSOL) snapped back 1.08, although that was more than a point higher earlier. Sigma Designs (SIGM) closed near the highs for the day up 96 cents. Taser (TASR) snapped back smartly, closing at the high for the day, up 44 cents. Excel Maritime (EXM) in the shipping sector was up 79 cents, and China Medical Technologies (CMED) gained 51 cents. BOOM added 87 cents.

On the downside, there were no point-plus losers. Accredited Home Lenders (LEND) took a late hit, and got hammered from its 8.24 high early, closing at 6.80, down 95 cents. Cree Inc. (CREE) lost 76 cents.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the key to today's session was that the declining tops lines and moving averages on the hourly charts were taken out. The market rallied sharply late in the session and gave back most of the gains, but still managed to end up on the plus side.

We'll see if we can get any follow-through to the upside over the next couple sessions, but true investor sentiment about the FOMC’s decision is often revealed after a day or two of reflection and we’ll then see if today’s rally was meaningful

It's interesting to note that the S&P 500's top today at 1488 was very similar to the highs reached last week and the week before. So there's very key resistance now at 1488 on the S&P 500.

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.