The indices suffered another negative session, and they were volatile during the day with several swings back and forth. The day started out with a big gap down that immediately took out initial support. They came down hard in the morning, rallied sharply mid-morning ,coming right to the opening gaps, but failed to punch through. Then they backed off and retested the lows, slightly taking them out on the S&P 500 but failing to confirm on the NDX. They then bounced and came back and retested. When that was successful they got a stronger rally, with the S&P 500 leading the way, nearly getting up to the morning rally highs, but again failing to follow through , finally rolling over into the last half hour.

Net on the day the Dow was down 131, but managed to hold 12,000, closing at 12,029. The S&P 500 was down 13, and the Nasdaq 100 down 21 3/4. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) was down more than 9, or about 2 1/2 percent.

The technicals confirmed the decline, with a 3 to 1 advantage of decliners over advancers on New York, and 2 1/2 to 1 on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was worse than 3 to 1 negative on New York on total volume of just over 1 1/4 billion. Nasdaq traded just over 2 billion, and had a better than 4 to 1 negative ratio on advancing/declining volume.

TheTechTrader.com board was mixed, with several our recent picks very strong performers today despite the negative market. Pyramid Oil (PDO), one of last week's Charts of the Week, advanced another 5.06, closing at 30.31.

Royale Energy (ROYL), one of our recent Charts of the Day, closed at 10.90, up 2.02 today as several junior oils continued to run. Brigham Exploration (BEXP) after an announcement of a discovery well jumped 1.06 to 17.87. The USO ( Oil ETF) snapped back nearly 4 points off its low and closed up 2.12, after oil reversed its morning losses and closed up on the session. Rounding out the junior oils, recent pick Northern Oil & Gas (NOG) gained 1.70.

The SDS ( Ultra short S&P 500 ETF)was up 1.39 today, as the S&P 500 lost more than 13 points. Chart of the Week A-Power Energy (APWR) advanced another 84 cents, closing at 29.29, but reached a new all-time high at 30.90 earlier in the morning.

On the downside, the shippers had a negative session today, with Excel Maritime (EXM) down 2.43, DryShips (DRYS) 1.02 and TBS International (TBSI) 2.02. Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) gave back 1.07.

Those were the only point-plus losers on our board today.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, after the initial break of support the indices then backed and filled for the rest of the session in volatile swings, but made little progress either way after the initial sharp morning decline, and appears to be consolidating. Whether it's a basing attempt or a pause that refreshes before more downside sets in, that remains to be seen.

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.