The markets had a down day to start the week. They opened negatively and went lower most of the session in a stair-step fashion, following down-channels for most of the day. At the end of the day they rolled over again,closing near the lows for the day going away.

Net on the day, the Dow was down 108.3, the S&P 500 down 14.60, the Nasdaq 100 26 1/2, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) off 8 1/4.

Advance-declines were moderately negative by 3 to 2 on New York and by about 4 to 3 on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was worse, with more than 2 to 1 ngeative on New York on a total of about 1 1/3 billion. Nasdaq traded nearly 2.1 billion, with 7 to 3 negative ratio.

However, TheTechTrader.com board was mostly higher with many point-plus gainers today. Chinese and junior solar stocks came back into play. China Natural Resources (CHNR) was the leader on our board, up 4.15 today.

Solar energy stocks had significant gains today as well. Solarfun (SOLF) was up 1.38, Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) 1.68, Canadian Solar (CSIQ) 1.89, and Ascent Solar (ASTI) up 95 cents.

Other stocks on the plus side were Cree Inc. (CREE), up 1.39, and FSIN up 1.71 Sigma Designs (SIGM) gained another 1.03 today.

On the downside, Chart of the Week VRUS slipped 1.51, UEPS 1.33 and DryShips (DRYS) 1.62.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices slipped steadily lower all session, closing at the lows for the day going away and near key 2-day support, not to mention at the rising moving averages on the hourly charts.

So far it's been an orderly pullback and certainly not an impulsive one, but we’ll have to see what the bears can muster up in terms of additional downside. But, the overall patterns still represent potentially bullish bottoming-type patterns, and although we may do some additional retesting there is some cause for optimism despite the currently overbought oscillators.

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.