The markets had a very negative close, closing near the lows for the day, but the day started out a lot differently. A strong follow-up to yesterday's big rally included pre-market futures that were sharply higher. The market certainly opened sharply higher, with the NDX getting up to 2090 and the S&P 500 1490, both formidable resistance levels. I was not surprised to see the market pull back, and stated so to my subscribers, but I also expected a consolidation day, and the indices certainly got that as they backed and filled for most of the session, going into the last hour or so. Then they rolled over, failed on a snapback try, and plunged into the close, only snapping back in the 5 minutes preventing a close at the lows.

Net on the day the Dow was down 76, the S&P 500 down 10 1/2, and the Nasdaq 100 28. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) was down 8.35, or about 2 percent.

The technicals were 5 to 3 negative on advance-declines on New York and about 3 to 2 on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was a little less than 2 to 1 negative on New York on total volume of 1.45 billion. Nasdaq traded more than 2.4 billion with about a 2 to 1 negative ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board was very mixed. Many stocks that were up sharply in the morning reversed sharply and closed with losses for the day. For example, DryShips (DRYS), which ran up to 104.43, closed at 92.43, a drop of 12 points and down around 6 on the day.

The same thing happened with fellow shippers Excel Maritime (EXM) and TBSI, both dropping around 5 points each. AAPL and GOOG also had sharp reversals, with GOOG reaching as high as 675 before plunging down to 636, closing at 641 and change, down nearly 19 on the day. Similarly, AAPL ran up to 177 1/2, got down to 163 3/4 before closing at around 166, down just about 4 points.

So, sharp early gains were reversed and many stocks closed with losses for the day, but many still had a positive session.

Recent Chart of the Week Canadian Solar (CSIQ) had a stellar day, as earnings were released and way above expectations. It shot as high as 17.10 at one point, up more than 5 1/2 points, but a late afternoon pullback brought that one back down, too. Still, it closed at 14.54, up 3.30 on heavy volume.

Other gainers of note, Chindex (CHDX) had a very strong session and hit a new all-time high, closing at 36, up 1.76. Low-priced QSC, which we traded in the morning, jumped from 3.16 to 4.65 before closing at 4.30, up 1.05 on 11 million shares. SCON at 8.12 was up 1.02, and Sigma Designs (SIGM) at nearly 58 was up 1.10 on 1 million shares.

Other stocks of note, former Chart of the Week and portfolio position UEPS jumped 90 cents today, at one point tagging a new all-time high. Portfolio position Aluminum Corp. of China (ACH) jumped 1.

VMware (VMW) dropped 3.32 and Home Inns & Hotels (HMIN) 1.64.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, as indicated earlier the indices gapped up, pulled back, consolidated for most of the sesson, but rolled over in the last hour, closing near the lows for the day going away. Only a last 5-minute rally brought them off the actual exact lows.

But in the process of doing that support was broken, and we'll have to see if they can stem the tide near current levels, which would be needed if they want to preserve the rally. If not, a full test of the lows or worse may be in store for us.

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.