The indices had their third consecutive down-day following the big opening gap last Friday. The indices were down Friday afternoon and again yesterday and then ended up on the downside today.

Today's session started out with a gap lower, where most of the losses occurred. Then they rallied sharply to snap back to resistance on the Nasdaq 100, fell short on the S&P 500, rolled over and retested successfully and then made nominal new highs mid-day that failed right at resistance on both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100. The S&P and Nasdaq rolled over mid-afternoon, tried to bounce and failed at the declining tops lines and then slipped into the close.

The Dow was down nearly 66, the S&P 500 more than 9 1/2, and the Nasdaq 100 less than 38 1/2. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) was down 3.34 today.

The technicals confirmed the decline today, with advance-declines about 2 to 1 negative on New York and a little less than that on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was nearly 2 1/2 to 1 negative on New York with 1.3 billion traded. Nasdaq also had a 2 1/2 to 1 ratio, and traded over 2 billion.

TheTechTrader.com board was extremely mixed, with some point-plus gainers and losers. The story of the day was the junior solar energy stocks, led by Solar Fun Power (SOLF), which jumped 5.65, and even that was about 3 points off its earlier high. Also in that sector, Hoku Scientific (HOKU) advanced nearly 2 today on 5 million shares. Canadian Solar (CSIQ) was up 2.45 on nearly 8 million shares, and Ascent Solar (ASTI) gained 2.95 on 2.4 million. China Sunergy (CSUN) was up 1.19, and Evergreen Solar (ESLR) rose 47 cents.

Other gainers of note, Chindex (CHDX) rose 75 cents and portfolio position SLXP gained 33 cents.

The market leaders, including the shipping stocks, led on the downside today. DryShips (DRYS) dropped 4.57 and Excel Maritime (EXM) 4.40.

China Natural Resources (CHNR) dropped another 1.10, Home Inns & Hotels (HMIN) 1.94, and RIMM had a negative session today, down 3.25 on nearly 40 million shares.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices opened sharply lower, bounced several times and failed at resistance, and then rolled over in the afternoon to close not far from the session lows. Key support was tested and held, so we'll see if there's more downside to come or whether they can snap out of this 3-day decline.

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.