We had a turnaround Tuesday as we thought we might, although this morning looked pretty ugly. Despite gapping up, the morning highs were right near the opening. They then worked their way steadily lower and accelerated in late morning to retest the 2000 level on the Nasdaq 100 and dipped under 1440 on the S&P 500. At that point they tried a reversal, but it was a slow tedious one. It didn't quite look like it would catch fire, but it eventually did, and by early afternoon they were running hard. The indices snapped back through two layers of resistance, but failed at the more formidable third layer at the 2040-41 zone on the S&P 500 and the 1458-60 area on the S&P 500, and then pulled back into the close.

Still, they were up on the session, with the Dow up 65 1/4 and the S&P 500 up 9, about 17 points off the low. The Nasdaq 100 was up 8.7, closing about 30 points off its low. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) was up just 0.91.

The technicals did manage to move to the plus side by 3 to 2 on advance-declines on both exchanges, and 2 to 1 on up/down volume on both exchanges as well. Total volume was a little less than 1.5 billion on New York and a little less than 2 billion on Nasdaq.

TheTechTrader.com board was active, with many point-plus gainers. The star of the day was Chart of the Week Canadian Solar (CSIQ), which exploded mid-day, running from 21 to more than 27, closing at 26.88, up 5.68 on 5 3/4 million. DryShips (DRYS) had an excellent day, a strong snapback session, up 6.31. Also in that sector, Excel Maritime (EXM) was up 1.30, and TBS International (TBSI) up 1.72. Recent Chart of the Week and portfolio position Emcore (EMKR) exploded for 2.25 on more than 5 1/3 million shares, after they announced they acquired one of the optical businesses of Intel.

Portfolio position Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) was up 1.24 in the strong solar energy sector. Ascent Solar (ASTI) gained 1.20. Evergreen Solar (ESLR) was up 68 cents. Hoku Scientific (HOKU) snapped back 80 cents from its low, but still was down 39 cents on the day.

Other stocks of note on the plus side, low-priced EPIX on strong drug news jumped 1.05 on 15 1/2 million shares, but it was way off its earlier high when it traded at 5.40, closing at 4.02.

Global Solutions (GSOL) snapped back 1.44 today, Chindex (CHDX) 56 cents, Blue Phoenix (BPHX) 56 cents, and Aluminum Corp. of China (ACH) 77 cents.

Portfolio position SLXP was up 40 cents today on news that it's being included in the S&P 600 index.

Taser (TASR) jumped 75 cents, and UEPS jumped nearly a point, up 99 cents. Portfolio position WAVE snapped back 23 cents.

On the downside, Home Inns & Hotels (HMIN) lost1.12. That was the only point-plus loser on our board today. Sigma Designs (SIGM) gave back 82 cents, but closed more than 2 points off its low.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, we have what appears to be a 2-day head and shoulders bottoming pattern forming, with a spike low head today at mid-day. The neckline at 2040-41 NDX and at 1460 SPX will be surely tested tomorrow. If that's broken they could reverse the recent 5-day decline and snap back to test higher levels.

If that occurs, the next target would be up in the 2060-70 on the Nasdaq 100 and the 1468-70 zone 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.