The markets for the most part were down on the session. The Dow did manage to eke out gain on the day. The day started out displaying a lot of volatility with the indices swinging back and forth five different times. They failed to get through overhead resistance and then rolled over late morning to the session lows on the S&P 500. They did retest in the afternoon, making slightly lower lows on the NDX, but just nominally, failed to do so on the SPX and then rallied in the last 40-45 minutes or so to come off the lows.

Net on the day the Dow was up a little less than 16, the S&P 500 was down 2.60, and the Nasdaq 100 down a little more than 17. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) was off a very substantial 15 points, or more than 4 percent, which really put pressure on Nasdaq.

The technicals were narrowly mixed, with advance-declines ahead by 122 issues on New York and by 171 issues on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was almost dead-even flat on New York on total volume of 1.2 billion. Nasdaq traded 2.1 billion and had a ratio of 13 to 8 negative on advancing over declining volume.

TheTechTrader.com board was also mixed, but there were some big losers today, with solars and shippers suffering. DryShips (DRYS) was down 3.74, and Excel Maritime (EXM) down 2.95. Portfolio position Canadian Solar (CSIQ) fell 1.81, and Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) 2.06 to 68.63. Focus Media (FMCN) got hammered for 2.92. Almost Family (AFAM) took it on the chin by dropping 4 points off its high, closing at 40.48, down 3.10 on the day. Also in the solar sector, JA Solar (JASO) dropped 1.21.

Point-plus gainers included Fuel System Solutions (FSYS), up 4.11 to 55.36. Ambac Financial (ABK) had another strong session on additional positive news, up 1.58 to 8.65 on more than 100 millon shares. It traded as high as 9.10 at one point. Trex (TWP) was up 1.07 today on nearly 900,000 shares, closing at a new 52-week high.

Other than that, Lehman (LEH) also advanced 81 cents, and Chart of the Week, American CareSource (XSI) at 8.58 was up 42 cents today.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices managed to stabilize by mid-day and retested successfully, bouncing back from oversold levels, not far from key support on the S&P 500 in the 1260-64 zone, reaching as low as 1265.59 before bouncing back up to 1275.

The Nasdaq 100 held near the 1820 level on two occasions and bounced, closing at 1834. The pullback isn't necessarily over, but it was an encouraging sign for the bulls that support held today. However, we'll have to see if there's any follow-through to the upside tomorrow or whether the downtrend will continue.

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.