The markets had quite a bit of volatility today, and dipped to new lows early and then again even lower lows by mid-day, but at that point reached the bottom of their 4-week down-channels, were oversold intraday. With cycle lows due in this timeframe and other technical factors indicating the indices were ripe for rally they took off, first starting slow and then accelerating by mid-afternoon.

The Nasdaq 100 ran from 1817, a new low, to 1864, backed off in the last hour, but came on again and closed at 1863, up almost 26 on the day and about 43 points off the low. The S&P 500 likewise rallied sharply in the afternoon from the 1260 to 1285, and closed right there, up 4.92, after being down nearly 20. The Dow, which got down to 11,183, closed at 11,383, 200 points off the low, up 32.25 on the day. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX), however, despite a 10-point rally off the low, was still down 2.12 on the day.

The technicals were not able to catch up as well, at least not on the NYSE anyway, where advance-declines were 18 to 13 negative and there was a tad more declining volume than advancing volume on a total of 1.6 billion traded. Nasdaq traded nearly 2 2/3 billion with a ratio 14 to 11 positive on advancing over declining volume, but advance-declines were 17 to 12 negative.

TheTechTrader.com board was mostly negative with a lot of multiple point losers, although most of them came way off the lows.

On the downside, the big loser of the day was Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) which fell 5.44 to 68.20. DryShips (DRYS) lost 3.20 in a very weak shipping sector, along with Excel Maritime (EXM) down 2.27 and TBS International (TBSI) off 2.11.

Canadian Solar (CSIQ) in a weak solar energy sector got hammered for 3.83. Solarfun (SOLF) lost 1.36 and JA Solar (JASO) 1.06.

A-Power Energy (APWR), a recent Chart of the Week, gave back a chunk, down 2.47 today.

Yesterday's Chart of the day AgFeed Industries (FEED) failed to follow through and got punished for it, down 1.08.

Pyramid Oil (PDO) fell 1.57, and Royale Energy (ROYL) 1.17, as oil came way off its high but still managed to close up on the day.

Exide Technologies (XIDE) fell 1.24, and Zoltek Companies (ZOLT) 1.11. The was QID down 1.06.

China Architectural (CAEI) gave back a big chunk, losing 1.31 today.

On the plus side, CIT Group (CIT) on a sale of subsidiaries, raising $1.8 billion in cash and reducing their debt, jumped 2.02 to 8.83, a gain of nearly 30% on 44 million shares.

That was the only point-plus gainer on our board.

Other fractional gainers of note, portfolio position Acordia Pharmaceuticals (ACOR) gained 53 cents, displaying excellent relative strength.

Sigma Designs (SIGM) had a very good session, coming back about 80 cents off its low, up 35 cents on the day on more than 1 million shares, and portfolio position Sequenom (SQNM) closed near the session highs, up 32 cents on 1.9 million.

Washington Mutual (WM) had a positive day, closing at 5 1/4, up 32 cents on 47 million.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices came down, tested the bottom of their four-week down-channels, and snapped back. The NDX in particular closed near its 3-day resistance highs and near its declining moving averages on the hourly chats. The S&P 500 trailed by a bit but also had a strong afternoon session.

We'll see if there's a follow-through tomorrow. I do believe we may have seen a short-term low in this range, but let's see how far they can extend this rally .

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.