The indices had what we expected, a non-volatile and somewhat quiet pre-FOMC session, although gains were had at the end.

The day started out with a move up. They backed off, held intraday price and moving average support, and went to new session highs, testing yesterday's rally highs on both indices, but fell short, and then backed off mid-afternoon to retest the rising 3-day trendlines, which held again. Then they moved back to once again retest the highs, but they were not able to punch through, as resistance was futile today and they backed off into the close.

Still, net on the day the Dow was up 58.70, the S&P 500 up 9.14, and the Nasdaq 100 up 9.85. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) was up 7.39 for a gain of 3 1/2 percent.

Advance-declines were about 21 to 9 1/2 positive on New York and 17 to 10 positive on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 2 1/2 to 1 positive on New York on total volume of a lighter 1.15 billion. Nasdaq traded just under 1.8 billion and also had a 2 1/2 to 1 positive volume ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board was narrowly mixed. Point-plus gainers included RIMM, which extended its gains, up another 3.20 to 53.91 on 26 3/4 million. AAPL also advanced 1.09 to 90.73.

The only other point-plus gainer on our board was the Direxion Large Cap Bull 3X Shares (BGU), a portfolio position, up 1.08 to 29.53.

Financials were firm today, with Morgan Stanley (MS) up 71 cents, JP Morgan (JPM) up 56 cents, and Bank of America (BAC) up 52 cents. Wells Fargo (WFC) also advanced 71 cents. The Direxion Financial Bull 3x Shares (FAS) gained 65 cents to 9.30 on 56 million shares. That was our Chart of the Day.

Cree Inc. (CREE) was up 44 cents to 20.24, Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) up 71 cents to 25.50, Hartford Financial Services (HIG) up 54 cents to 24.59, and SunPower (SPWR) up 75 cents to 29.55, along with portfolio position Net 1 Ueps Technologies (UEPS), up 46 cents to 12.34.

On the downside, the Direxion Financial Bear 3x Shares (FAZ) ultrashort ETF got hammered for 5.30, closing at 57.63, and the Direxion Large Cap Bear 3X Shares (BGZ) fell 2.47 to 66.35.

Oil got hammered today for $3 1/2, and the U.S. Oil Fund ETF (USO) suffered, closing at 29.50, down 2.64.

Those were the only point-plus losers on our board. Sequenom (SQNM) gave back 85 cents today, closing not far off its session lows, as did Geron (GERN), down 91 cents to 7.24.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, today was a consolidation day as the indices held the rising trendlines but resisted at overhead key resistance levels, and the short-term trend, despite being up in the last several sessions, stalled in this zone.

It'll be interesting to see what happens after tomorrow's FOMC announcement, and we expect volatility to increase.

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.