The markets had another brutal down-day, saved only by the last 10-minute sharp snapback that it got, preventing it from closing at the lows for the day going away.

The day started out with a lower opening. A choppy bear-flag type rally ensued in the morning, and they certainly fell out of that and failed at their declining tops and moving average resistance, made lower lows on the S&P 500 and slightly lower lows on the Nasdaq around lunch hour before rallying again in another bear-flag type formation. A retest of the lows occurred, another bear flag formed, and then they went sharply lower in the afternoon before the late bounces brought them back.

Net on the day the Dow was down 121, the S&P 500 19 1/2, and the Nasdaq 100 14. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) was down 3.36 today.

The technicals were definitely negative and confirmed the downside thrust in stocks today. Advance-declines were 25 1/2 to 7 negative on New York and 21 to 8 1/2 on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was about 4 1/2 to 1 negative on New York, but volume was lower, at about 1.45 billion. Nasdaq volume was a hefty 2 1/4 billion, with a 17 to 6 negative ratio, about 3 to 1, on declining over advancing volume.

TheTechTrader.com board was mostly negative with several multiple-point losers. Shipping stocks led the way to the downside, with DryShips (DRYS) down 5.05, TBSI down 83 cents, Excel Maritime (EXM) 48 cents.

VMware (VMW) dropped 4.87, the XLE 2.33, Aluminum Corp. of China (ACH) 1.89, China Natural Resources (CHNR) 1.36, Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) 1.16, FuelTek (FTEK) 1.24, Global Solutions (GSOL) hammered again for 1.93 and Home Inns & Hotels (HMIN) 1.19.

Research Frontiers (REFR) got slammed under 10, losing 1.22 today. Sigma Designs (SIGM) lost 1.82 and UEPS gave back 1.27.

On the plus side, there were just fractional gains other than the short instruments. DUG was up 1.64, the SDS 1.58, and the QID 96 cents. BPHX managed to gain 87 cents, as did CSIQ, up 96 cents. The only bright standout today was Local.com (LOCM), which announced a licensing of their product to five different entities and jumped 1.68 on 4.9 million shares, a gain of 45% today.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices did nearly a compete and full retest of the recent lows on the S&P and Dow and made a higher low on the Nasdaq and late in the day did snapback. We'll see if that translates into a follow-through rally tomorrow, but tomorrow is options expiration day and anything may happen.

Please note: This is our last Closing Market Analysis by Harry until after the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. An enjoyable and restful holiday to everyone!

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.