The market had a volatile session but an upday.  The indices bounced early, had a very strong morning rally, taking the NDX up slightly through resistance and the S&P testing resistance.  At that point they came down in a three-step decline right into the lunch hour.  The indices bounced, retested successfully and then had another solid rally in the last 1 1/2 hours that took the indices back up towards the upper range of the day.

Net on the day the Dow was up 91 1/2, the S&P 500 up more than 8 1/2, the Nasdaq 100 up nearly 15 and the SOX was up 3.30.

It as a good day technically as well, as the advance-declines were 21 to 11 on New York and about 19 to 11 on Nasdaq.  Up/down volume was 2 1/2 to 1 positive on New York with more than 1.4 billion traded. Nasdaq was close to 1.6 billion traded, with about a 3 to 2 positive ratio on up/down volume.

TheTechTrader.com board was mixed with only one stock up as much as a point.  That was Meadow Valley (MVCO), closing near 11, up 2.06 on a half million shares with a strong last-hour rally. 

Other stocks of note, Forward Industries (FORD) snapped back 76 cents, CryptoLogic (CRYP) was up 48 cents, and in the energy sector Georesources (GEOI) was up 68 cents and Able Energy (ABLE) 71 cents.

Broadcom (BRCM) also snapped back 46 cents in the large-cap sector.  The Qs were up 32 cents and the SMH 22 cents.

On the downside, Dynamic Materials (BOOM)gave back 52 cents, but most other stocks on my board, if they were down, were only down a few cents.  So, it was generally a positive day on the Street.

But, stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, you'll see that the Nasdaq 100 failed in the morning and then in the afternoon rallied right back to the declining 40-day moving average on the hourly charts.  That is key resistance.  So we'll see if we can punch through tomorrow, or whether they back off here and go lower. 

The S&P 500 ran back up to its morning highs and price resistance and closed just underneath that around the 1238 area.  Above that, the level to watch is the 1242-43 zone, and we'll keep an eye on those tomorrow.

Good trading!

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.