The markets had a mixed, consolidation session, particularly in the blue chips, which reached new rally highs in the morning. Nasdaq was a bit stronger, too.

But the day was rather choppy. After some early strength the indices came down, retested the intraday moving averages, held them, then went to new highs on the Nasdaq 100 but failed to do so on the S&P 500. When that occurred they pulled back mid-day, but held support, and then they tried to bounce again.

The S&P 500 did not make a new high in the afternoon, but the Nasdaq 100 did, and in the last hour or so they pulled back again.

Net on the day there were narrowly mixed results. The Dow was up just 5.70, the S&P 500 was down 2.67, and the Nasdaq 100 up 2.35. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) barely moved today, ahead by 0.16.

That was evident by the technicals, which were flat, with advance-decline 70 issues higher on New York and about 70 issues lower on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was less than 6 to 5 positive on New York and about 9 to 8 negative on Nasdaq.

So, it was a very mixed picture, and narrowly so. That was also reflected in our TheTechTrader.com board, which was about 50/50 positive and negative.

But there were some big gainers today. Shipping stocks once again led the way, with DryShips (DRYS) up 6.17 to 89.82, Excel Maritime (EXM) up 2.69 to 50.16, and TBS International (TBSI) up 1.35 at 42.59.

Solar energy stocks for the most part were strong this morning, even though they gave back some of their gains. Solarfun (SOLF), in particular, had a very strong session, up 2.95 on 8 million shares. Canadian Solar (CSIQ) was up 2.74 at 21.46. Ascent Solar (ASTI) gained 70 cents, Evergreen Solar (ESLR) 53 cents, and Hoku Scientific (HOKU), also in that group, up 40 cents.

Other stocks of note, Blue Phoenix (BPHX) was up 59 cents, and Adolor (ADLR), a junior biotech stock, was up 37 cents at 5.07.

On the downside, it was a mixed picture in the Chinese group. China Natural Resources (CHNR), which dripped as low as 24 and rose as high as nearly 32, closed at 26.80, up a dime on the day, a topsy-turvy day there.

Home Inns & Hotels (HMIN) closed at 36.59, down 2.36. That was the only point-plus loser on our board.

Sigma Designs (SIGM) fell 50 cents to 70.44, VMware (VMW) lost 82 cents at 88.88, and Fuwei Films (FFHL) gave back 52 cents from yesterday's sharp gain. Aluminum Corp. of China (ACH) also lost 99 cents.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the rally stalled today, but they didn't give back much of it, and we ended with a mixed session.

We'll see if the indices are just consolidating before more year-end gains, or whether they can come down early next week and break support. I have a feeling we're due for a little bit of a deep pullback and retest. Right now key support exists just around the 2100 level on the Nasdaq, and at the 1490 area on the S&P 500.

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.