The indices didn't have much follow-through to yesterday's rally but they did well to close not far off of the session highs with a solid afternoon snapback. The morning gave us a fairly sharp pullback that held support. When support held after a second test, the indices then rallied back in early afternoon but backed and filled before they were able to come on again in the last hour.

Net on the day the Dow was up just 1 point, the S&P 500 up less than a point, the Nasdaq 100 down 6, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) down 2.74, so very narrowly mixed results at the lose, but on the day a constructive consolidation.

The technicals were flat on New York with advance-declines ahead by just 29 issues, and up/down volume just barely to the plus side. Total volume was a light 1.2 billion. Nasdaq traded about 1 3/4 billion, and had a little better than 3 to 2 advantage in declines over advances, and up/down volume.

As a result, TheTechTrader.com board was mostly narrowly mixed. There were just a few outstanding issues on both sides.

On the plus side, the leader on our board was Digital Alley (DGLY), which was one of our stocks to watch last Sunday. That broke out to all-time highs, jumping 1.19 to 8.60 on 3/4 of a million shares, a key breakout today.

The shippers were strong earlier in the day but gave back some of their gains. TBS International (TBSI) closed up 80 cents, Excel Maritime (EXM) up 25 cents and DryShips (DRYS) down 95 cents.

Solar energy stocks had a sharp afternoon sell-off on an impasse in the Senate. Canadian Solar (CSIQ) dropped 2.01, Solarfun (SOLF) 67 cents, JA Solar (JASO) 58 cents, China Sunergy (CSUN) 33 cents, Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) 79 cents, and Trina Solar (TSL) down 1.83.

Stocks of note on the plus side included Chindex (CHDX), which split 3 for 2 and advanced 57 cents. Sigma Designs (SIGM) gained 28 cents. Low-priced Nextwave Wireless (WAVE), a portfolio position, jumped 54 cents today on a sudden surge in volume, a 14% gain to 4.78.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, as indicated earlier the indices came down in the morning, held support & went back up in the afternoon , closing not far off the session highs. It was a solid consolidation of yesterday's large rally, and today's action augurs well for future higher prices.

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.