We had another up-day, and the indices started with a big rally that broke key multiple session consolidation ranges and went to new 3-week & 2009 rally highs.

The rally in the morning took the Nasdaq 100 to a new rally high at nearly 1633, the highest level reached since early November of last year.  The S&P 500 reached 996.68, the highest level since late September of last year.  They pulled back late in the morning and then consolidated mid-day, but when no rally materialized late in the session they rolled over hard and took back a big chunk of the gains.

Net on the day the Dow was up 86.74 to 9154.46, but traded nearly 90 points higher earlier in the day.  The S&P 500 was up 11.60 to 986.75, about 10 points off the high, and the Nasdaq 100 closed up 10.26 at 1601.97, but gave back 22 points off its high.

Advance-declines were positive by 4 to 1 on New York and 2 12 to 1 on Nasdaq.   Up/down volume was 2 1/2 to 1 positive on New York on total volume of nearly 1.35 billion.  Nasdaq traded nearly 2 ½ billion and had a 16 t o 9 positive volume ratio.

So the technicals confirmed the positive session, but the last-hour sell-off put a big dent in the day’s final results.

TheTechTrader.com board was very active and had many multiple-point gainers.  Leading the way was American Superconductor ( ), jumping 5.85 to 32.13 on strong earnings, but that was more than 4 points off its high. 

Goldman Sachs ( ) was up nearly 3 at 162.42 in a continuing strong financial sector. Morgan Stanley ( ) gained 1.20, at 28.36, and Wells Fargo ( ) 49 cents to 24.87.   JP Morgan ( ) added 70 cents to 38.47.