Gains for indices were enough to drive new swing high breakouts. There wasn't a whole lot of volume following the Easter holiday, but the intention was clear. The Nasdaq managed a new closing high which cleared both the late February and March swing highs on the back of a bullish cross in momentum stochastics, and a continued improvement in relative performance to Small Caps.

All indices made gains, but only for the S&P was it significant. Even then, the S&P still has trendline resistance to overcome despite the new closing high. Technicals for the S&P are net bullish, and more importantly, the index is a relative leader. Volume could be better, but any gain from here will be enough to clear resistance and accelerate gains. 

Last Thursday's gain in the indices had established the groundwork for consolidations, with the Tech and Large Caps best positioned to gain.  The Russell 2000 may have already run into trouble with its consolidation as today's loss came off its 50-day MA on higher volume distribution. Technicals are mostly bearish, although On-Balance-Volume remains on a 'buy' trigger despite today's distribution.

The Russell 2000 and Nasdaq are building sideways trading ranges with the potential for a double bottom using Thursday's low and the March swing low as the basis for the next phase of the rally. It's not a deep pattern, but given the rally which led into it, it's as much of a consolidation as once can expect to see.  In the case of the Nasdaq, Friday's gain wasn't enough to offset the MACD trigger 'sell' or the loss in relative performance to the Russell 2000 (although no 'sell' trigger).