The indices had a consolidation day with an upwards bias and managed to close higher again today.

The day started out with a gap up and reached new highs on the Nasdaq 100 but failed to do so on the S&P 500. They backed off in a 3-wave decline that held yesterday afternoon's support lows. Another rally try took the SPX to new highs, but the NDX failed to do so, and then they backed off and consolidated pretty much into the close. It was a sloppy afternoon part of the session, but the indices still managed to end higher again.

Net on the day the Dow was up 51.01 at 9829.87, the S&P 500 up 7 at 1071.76, and the Nasdaq 100 up just 2.51 at 1734.09.

Advance-declines were nearly 3 to 1 positive on New York and 15 to 11 positive on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was better than 3 to 1 positive on New York on total volume of just under 1 1/4 billion. Nasdaq traded just under 2 1/2 billion and had a 13 to 11 positive volume ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board was mixed but mostly higher. Leading the way was the Direxion Financial Bull 3x Shares (FAS), which tagged 90, closing at 89.65, up 4.90 on 25 million traded.

Goldman Sachs (GS) advanced another 3.13 to 185.52. Morgan Stanley (MS) was up 1.37 at 32.98. Wells Fargo (WFC) advanced 1.10 to 29.39, and JP Morgan (JPM) 1.92 to 46.47.

Portfolio position RINO International (RINO) had a stellar day, up 2.15 or 15% to 16.52 on nearly 2 million shares. Low-priced BSD Medical Corp (BSDM) jumped 1.95 to 3.83 on 11 1/2 million shares, closing up 104% on the session. Strategic Hotels (BEE) closed at 2.75, up 69 cents for a gain of 33 Ã,½ percent.

The U.S. Oil Fund ETF (USO) was up 1.19 to 36.98. Brigham Exploration (BEXP) added 76 cents to 10.31 on 2.8 million shares in the strong junior oil sector. That's up from 2.50 just a couple months ago when we highlighted it. Portfolio position EDAP (EDAP) gained 29 cents to 4.40.

On the downside, the Direxion Financial Bear 3x Shares (FAZ) lost 1.27 to 19.42, UltraShort Real Estate ProShares (SRS) 65 cents to 8.80, and the Direxion Large Cap Bear 3X Shares (BGZ) 44 cents to 20.60.

Dendreon (DNDN) gave back 59 cents to 28.87, Human Genome Sciences (HGSI) 41 cents to 19.39, and OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals (OGXI) 48 cents to 38.53 in a generally soft & quiet junior biotech sector.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the markets were somewhat volatile in the morning but settled down in the afternoon to close up on the day.

Harry Boxer is a technical consultant to many Wall Street hedge funds and large institutional traders, and author of TheTechTrader.com.