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Today marked a second day of strength in the stock market as investors bid up stocks that they believed had been oversold in the recent market drubbing. The Dow was choppy throughout the day, but stayed mostly in positive territory, finishing higher by 108.44. The Nasdaq showed significant strength by gaining 44.51 points, or 1.92%. The S&P 500 gained 13.47, or 1.01%.

Basic materials, technology, and energy were the three standout sectors on the day.

The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) charged higher by 12.67% on twice its normal daily volume today. Monsanto Company (NYSE:MON) gained 5.75% on the day as these agriculture stocks which had been lagging the market the last couple days returned to their leadership position today. Gold stocks were also strong today. Goldcorp (NYSE:GG) gained 6.73% on the day. Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE:KGC) gained 10.72% today. Alcoa (NYSE:AA) shares rose 5.55% on the day.

Technology stocks showed a great amount of strength today as well. Qualcomm (Nasdaq:QCOM) shares charged higher by 10.32% after raising their 2008 sales forecast today. Research in Motion (Nasdaq:RIMM) shares gained 7.95% on the day, likely at least partially because of QCOM's great result. Baidu.com (Nasdaq:BIDU) shares surged by 13.65% on the day. Seagate (NYSE:STX) rose by 6.49% on the day. Network Appliance (Nasdaq:NTAP) shares rose by 8.93% on strong volume.

Energy stocks also surged as the price of oil rose by more than $2 per barrel today. National Oilwell Varco (NYSE:NOV) shares jumped 11% on strong volume. Weatherford International (NYSE:WFT) shares gained 6.9% on about double its normal daily volume. Cameron (NYSE:CAM) and Hess Corporation (NYSE:HES) both gained by 6.99% and 8.1% respectively. Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) charged higher by 7.82% as coal stocks showed strength as well today.

The majority of financials were strong once again today, making this their third straight day of gains. Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) gained another 6.06% on more than double its normal volume. IntercontinentalExchange (NYSE:ICE) led the exchanges by gaining 5.01% today.

Today's strength was buoyed by strong volume once again. The Nasdaq traded just over 3 billion shares and the NYSE traded about 2.2 billion shares on the day. Interestingly, the advancers didn't beat the decliners quite as much as you would expect on such a strong day like today. For example, the Nasdaq saw only 55% of its stocks higher and 41% of its stocks lower today.

It's important to remember that powerful rallies can come during a bear market, so the rally we are currently seeing has not yet proved anything definitive at all. This is a positive sign, but it's not an all clear.

After the bell tonight Microsoft reported very impressive second quarter earnings and upped its fiscal year outlook. This should be a nice wind beneath the sail of the market tomorrow, so it will be somewhat of a surprise if the market doesn't finish the week with some more gains tomorrow.