The markets had a definitive down day today. They started out with a big gap down as futures were lower. They did try to bounce early in the morning, but then basically went lower until mid-morning when they accelerated to the downside after breaking key 3-day support on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100. But they couldn’t follow through & that culminated in the session lows around mid-session. They spent the early part of the afternoon bouncing back to resistance, but failed right at key overhead resistance, came down and retested and made higher lows on the Nasdaq 100 and double-bottomed on the S&P. They then rallied into the last hour, closing at the afternoon highs on the S&P 500 but well off the early highs and certainly down on the day.

Net on the day, the Dow was down 104.8, the S&P 500 down 12.23, and the Nasdaq 100 down 31.47. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) was down 12.50. That had been leading in the last few days and certainly took it on the chin today.

Advance-declines confirmed the down-day, with a more than 2 1/2 to 1 advantage of decliners over advancers on New York and 3 to 1 on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 3 to 1 negative on New York and 3 1/2 to 1 negative on Nasdaq. Total volume was a bit better, with 1.3 billion traded on New York and just under 1.9 billion on Nasdaq.

TheTechTrader.com board was mixed, but they were mostly lower. Leading the way on the plus side by far today were the shippers, with DryShips (DRYS) exploding for 8.38 closing at 82.99. Excel Maritime (EXM), our Chart of the Day a few days back in the mid-30s, closed at 43.08, up 3.54 on 2.8 million. TBS International (TBSI) also was up, but only by 80 cents today.

Other stocks of note on the plus side, Ascent Solar (ASTI) jumped 1.54, but Canadian Solar (CSIQ) was off 51 cents. JA Solar (JASO) gained 16 cents and Solarfun (SOLF) 8 cents. Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) added 39 cents, and Akeena Solar (AKNS) dropped 23 cents and Emcore (EMKR) 21 cents.

So it was a mixed picture in the solar energy group today.

Other stocks of note, Clearwire (CLWR) was up 49 cents, FuelTek (FTEK) 69 cents, and Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) 67 cents. We got another strong session today from recent Chart of the Week AgFeed Industries (FEED), which gained 1.16 and closed over 20 for the first time ever, at 20.19 on more than 2 million traded.

On the downside, the loser by far today was United Airlines(UAUA), which got hammered after earnings were worse than analyst estimates. The stock closed at 13.55, down 7.88 or 37% on 45.8 million shares, crushed to a new all-time post-IPO low.

Jinpan (JST) gave back 1.34 and that was the only other point-plus loser on my board. China Finance Online (JRJC) lost 64 cents, China Natural Resources (CHNR) 75 cents, and Exide Technologies (XIDE) 40 cents.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices plunged mid-morning and early afternoon, took out key levels of short-term support, and reached into last Friday's big opening gap to tag the rising 40 day moving averages on the hourly charts, which did stem the tide. Then they had a snapback in the afternoon which brought them all off the lows, but still ended negative on the session.

We'll see what tomorrow may be bring. Right now it looks like we may have hit a short-term peak. But we'll see if that's case after a couple more days of action is behind us.

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.