The indices got what we expected, a consolidation day where they pretty much vacillated back and forth within a trading range.

The day started out with a quick pullback, a thrust to the upside, and then another retest that was successful. When that occurred, we had a solid morning rally that took the indices to new 3-day rally highs. There was not much follow-through, and by mid-day they were pulling back. When they retested the lows that was successful and that triggered a mid-afternoon rally that took the indices to the high for the session on the Nasdaq 100 but not on the Dow and S&P 500. In the last hour they backed and filled and pulled back a bit.

Net on the day we had a positive session with the indices up 22 on the Dow, 0.7 on the S&P 500, and more than 7 on the Nasdaq 100. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) managed to stay flat today, down 0.12.

The technicals were slightly negative by about 9 to 7 on advance-declines on New York and by about 270 issues on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was dead-even flat on both exchanges, with about 1.3 billion traded on New York and about 2.1 billion on Nasdaq.

TheTechTrader.com board was mostly higher today. Point-plus gainers were plentiful. Sigma Designs (SIGM) on blow-out earnings exploded this morning, running all the way up to 69, a new all-time high. It backed off several points, but still closed at 65.43, up 6.29 on 11 million shares, the biggest volume I believe I've ever seen on that stock in one day.

Other stocks of note, shipping stocks were very strong today and continued to follow through. DryShips (DRYS), reaching as high as 93 and change, closed just under 90, up 3 on the day. Excel Maritime (EXM) again had another strong session, up 3 1/4, at one point up more than 5 points, and TBS International (TBSI) was up 4.15.

Ascent Solar (ASTI) in the junior solar energy group was very strong, up 2.21. Canadian Solar (CSIQ) was also up 70 cents, and ESLR up 61 cents. CSUN was also up 70 cents, so a strong day in the solar energy group.

BIDZ snapped back 1.62 and China Medical Technologies (CMED) was up 1.63.

On the downside, there were just fractional losses for most stocks, but China Finance Online (JRJC) gave back another 1.28 and Cree Inc. (CREE) lost 50 cents, with China Natural Resources (CHNR) down 86 cents.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, we got what we expected today and that was a consolidation day. The indices did well to hold 2-3 tests of intraday support and did not give it back. So the shorts were not given a chance to exit very easily, and the indices were squeezed a bit higher near the close.

We'll see if there's additional follow-through tomorrow and early next week.

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.