The markets had an interesting but generally bullish session. However, the underlying technicals were very mixed, with advance-declines showing negative tendencies.

The day started out with a gap down and a big one based on negative futures. But the lows for the day were reached very quickly, and the market turned around sharply and steadily. The Nasdaq 100 had a very strong rally which took it from 1714 to about the 1761, a very strong rally in just the first 2-3 hours. The S&P 500 also rallied, although not as strongly, and certainly did not take out yesterday afternoon's late highs, which the NDX did. The SPX then pulled back mid-day but held key intraday support, and then came on again in the last couple hours, especially in the last 30 minutes or so when the market exploded to the upside.

Net on the day the Dow closed up 165, the S&P 500 17, and the Nasdaq 100 35.58. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) was up just 1.95.

The advance-declines were negative on both exchanges. They did come back from negative 3 to 2 with a half hour to go on New York, which closed with 355 more stocks down than up. On a day when the Dow is up 165 and the S&P 500 17, that's very unusual. Nasdaq advance-declines were 15 to 13 negative. But the up/down volume was positive by 9 to 5 on New York and better than 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. Total volume on New York was less than 1 1/2 billion, and Nasdaq traded about 2 1/4 billion.

TheTechTrader.com board was very mixed. Point-plus gainers included Fuel Systems Solutions (FSYS), up 3.65. Shippers were positive, with DryShips (DRYS) up 1.05, although that was 5 points off the low, and Excel Maritime (EXM), which was up 1.29, some 2 1/2 points off the low.

Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) gained 1.68 to 59.30, 6 points off its low. So, many stocks reversed sharply off their lows this morning.

Other stocks of note, United (UAUA) jumped from 9.12 to 11.14, closing at 11.12, right near the highs for the day, up 1.15 on 13 million shares. Sequenom (SQNM), one of our portfolio positions, got hammered down to 18.10 this morning and closed at 20.76, up 1.44, a nice reversal there.

Chart of the Day and Chart of the Week Converted Organics (COIN) had a spectacular session, after a sharply lower opening, it ran from 6.52 to 8.35, closing at 8.12, up 82 cents on 1.4 million. Washington Mutual (WA) jumped from 1.75, a multi-year low today, to 2.83, up 51 cents on 310 million shares.

Lehman (LEH) wasn't so lucky, dropping 3.03 to 4.22 on 457 million shares, although late in the session the story was out about talks of being acquired by B of A.

On the downside, point-plus losers included A-Power Energy (APWR) down 1.60 to 13.77, the USO down 1.56, the SDS 1.76, QID 2.02 and the DUG 1.12.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, a potential significant short-term low may have been put in today as the indices swung back around, took out their declining moving averages, and short-term trendlines on the shorter-term charts. Short-term resistance at NDX 1760-63 was taken out late in the session as well as the 1244-45 level on the SPX.

We'll see if that leads to anything further, but there's a chance, as indicated, that we may have seen a low today. I will point out that with all the crosswinds & negative news with financial stocks and mortgage companies, anything can happen overnight. So caution is still the word.

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.