The indices suffered their third straight down session and broke key short support, but did manage to snap back towards the end of the day.

The day started out with a move down. They bounced a couple times mid-morning but went lower until around the lunch hour, when they vacillated and tried to rally early in the afternoon. When that attempt failed, they rolled over and went to new lows but failed to follow through and then snapped back rather sharply in the last hour.

However, they still ended down on the day, with the Dow down more than 49, the S&P 500 more than 11, and the Nasdaq 100 nearly 20. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX), however, stood out like a sore thumb today and was up 5.54 or 1 Ã,½ .It tried to lead the indices higher and is positively diverging at this point.

However, the technicals confirmed the negative day, with advance-declines negative by 22 to 9 on New York and by 21 to 8 on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was negative by 3 1/2 to 1 on New York and by 3 to 1 on Nasdaq. Total volume was less than 1 1/4 billion on New York, and about 1.9 billion on Nasdaq.

TheTechTrader.com board was mixed but mostly lower, with several point-plus losers today. Leading the way was DCR, the inverse oil ETF, which got hammered for 2.52, a big percentage loss, closing at 6.57 on more than 5 million shares, with crude oil up sharply to new all-time highs.

Other losers of note, Aluminum Corp. of China (ACH) fell 2.54, DryShips (DRYS) 1.94, Eschelon Corp. (ELON) 1.11, Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) 1.13, China Finance Online (JRJC) down 1, and TBS International (TBSI) in the shipping sector down 1.14.

On the upside there were only small fractional gainers, with Converted Organics (COIN) up 33 cents, Chindex (CHDX) up 32 cents, FuelTek (FTEK) 23 cents, Rambus (RMBS) 21, Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) 40 cents, and Chart of the Week WSI Industries (WSCI) 29 cents.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices moved below short-term support and then tested secondary support, trendline and Fibonnacci support levels, then bounced late in the session. But It may not have been significant other than just a technical snapback. Right now the current three-day down-channels remain in force.

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.