The week started out on an upnote and did some technical damage to the downtrend.  But the day started out with a sloppy move lower that tested support, bounced off that level and then staged a strong morning rally that lasted throughout the lunch hour.  They hit the session highs just after lunch ended. 

The afternoon session was spent meandering sideways, and in the last hour or so they backed off into the close.  But they were still up on the day by 34 on the Dow, 3 1/2 on the S&P 500, and 9 on the Nasdaq 100.  The SOX was up nearly 5 points today, or nearly 1 percent, and that certainly helped Nasdaq.

The technicals were positive by a little less than 3 to 2 on New York and a like amount on Nasdaq.  Up/down volume was about 3 to 2 positive on New York and less than 2 to 1 positive on Nasdaq.  Volume was a tad lighter than we've seen recently, with about 1.15 billion traded on New York and about 1 1/3 billion on Nasdaq.

TheTechTrader.com board was very active.  Chart of the Week Genesis Microcchip (GNSS) was the star all day, closing up 1.98.  Cutera (CUTR) and Nvidia (NVDA), two other Charts of the Week, were up 1.44 and 76 cents, respectively.

Other stocks of note, Forward Industries (FORD) snapped back 1.27, and Broadcom (BRCM) was up 1.05 today.

On the downside, Able Energy (ABLE) was down 59 cents, Georesources (GEOI) 26 cents,and  Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) and Evergreen Solar (ESLR) were down small fractions, as oil backed off and energy stocks reflected that.

Chart of the Week Meadow Valley (MVCO) was also down 67 cents.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the significance of today was that the Nasdaq 100 popped through the declining 40-day moving average on the hourly charts for the first time since the top occurred earlier this month.  The S&P and Dow also popped through the moving averages, and we'll see if that's significant or not and if there's any follow-through tomorrow.

Right now support we'll be watching is at 1595 and then the 1582-83 zone on the Nasdaq 100.  S&P support exists at the 1226-28 zone.

Good trading!

Harry

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.