The indices started out the week with a down day, but the morning was a little bit different. They opened with a muted 5-wave rally and failed at declining tops line and lateral price resistance, particularly on the Nasdaq 100. By mid-day when they failed to accelerate to the upside, they started rolling over and basically went lower for the rest of the session with a few bounces in between.

Net on the day, they closed near the lows for the day, with the NDX taking out Friday's lows and the S&P 500 holding them. The Dow was down 57, the S&P 500 8 3/4, and the Nasdaq 100 more than 21 1/2. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) managed to gain a fraction, up 0.41 today.

The technicals were negative by 3 to 2 on advance-declines on New York and 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 2 to 1 negative on New York and a like amount on Nasdaq. Total volume on New York was 1.3 billion, and Nasdaq traded over 1.9 billion.

TheTechTrader.com board was mostly narrowly mixed but there were some outstanding gainers and losers. The shipping stocks had a negative session. DryShips (DRYS) was down 5.14, Excel Maritime (EXM) 1.87, and TBS International (TBSI) 81 cents.

Aluminum Corp. of China (ACH) fell 1.44, Cree Inc. (CREE) 1.54, and Chinese hotelier Home Inns & Hotels (HMIN) 1.43.

On the plus side, one of last week's Charts of the Day, Solarfun Power (SOLF) exploded today, bringing its gains to nearly 100% in the last 4 sessions, closing at 20.60, up 4.25, reaching a high of 21.85 not too far before the close.

VMware (VMW) gained 3.60, Sigma Designs (SIGM) tagged another new all-time high at 69 1/2 and backed off to close at 67.83, still up 2.81 today. Global Solutions (GSOL) gained 1.27. Low-priced China Sunergy (CSUN) was also strong today, up 1.68 to 9.26.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices as indicated continued their 2-day slide off the highs, taking out some price and moving average resistance on the Nasdaq 100 and holding them on the S&P 500. We'll see if there's any downside extension or if the resiliency in the S&P and Dow can drag the NDX back up.

Levels to watch for are the 2055-60 zone on the NDX and the 1460 area on the S&P.

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.