The indices had another sharp gap up at the opening, and then reached their highs early on in the first few minutes, and then after reversing sharply stair-stepped their way all day with a few bear flag formations in between. But for the most part they moved in a very orderly intraday down-channel, failing to break above any intraday resistance levels price-wise, moving average-wise or even trendline-wise, and closed near the lows for the day going away, with only a little late bounce in the last five minutes.

Net on the day the Dow was down near 143, the S&P 500 17 1/2, and the Nasdaq 100 21.15. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) was down about 1 point.

Technicals were about 3 to 1 negative on advance-declines on New York and a little worse than 2 to 1 negative Nasdaq. Up/down volume, however, was the story, about 4 to 1 negative on New York on volume of close to 1.4 billion. Nasdaq traded close to 2.2 billion and had a better than 4 to 1 negative ratio.

So, a pretty positive day for the bears and one the bulls will want to forget about.

TheTechTrader.com board was mostly lower. There were a few outstanding issues, particularly in the shippers, with DryShips (DRYS) up 3.92 TBS International (TBSI) 1.43, and Excel Maritime (EXM) up 20 cents.

Other point-plus gainers included China Finance Online (JRJC), which shot up in the morning and held its gains, up 1.72 on the day. Recent Chart of the Week PTEC at 17.40 was up 1.21. Chindex (CHDX) acting tremendously in terms of relative strength was up 36 cents today. Converted Organics (COIN), which we added to our model portfolio two days ago, had a phenomenal morning, running from 11.53 to 13.08, but gave back most of it, and closed at 11.83, up just 20 cents on the day on heavy volume of 3.5 million.

On the downside, solar energy stocks, particularly junior solars, were weak for most of the session. Canadian Solar (CSIQ) fell 1.16, JA Solar (JASO) 1.39, and Solarfun (SOLF) 1.45.

Other losers of note, Mercadolibre (MELI) gave back 1.43, FSIN 1.32, and recent Boxer Short CMG 1.57.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, as indicated earlier after a very strong opening the indices reversed and moved steadily lower all day in very neat, orderly channels. They closed right near yesterday's lows on the NDX and S&P and near multi-session lows and key support levels at the 1755-58 zone on the NDX and the 1337-39 zone on the S&P.

So, we'll see if we violate those levels or are able to take out today's highs, which nearly broke them out to the upside. But right now the S&P, in particular, is in a trading range for the last 6-7 days, between the 1337 and 1367 area, a 30-point range. So we'll see which way they finally resolve.

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.