The indices were up, down, up, and down again to close slightly higher on the session, a win for the bulls and not the reversal type day after yesterday's rally. So that's a positive.

The day started out with a strong move off the initial soft opening, and then the indices went to new rally highs, reaching 1135 on the NDX and 732 or so on the SPX. At that point they went into an orderly decline that lasted several hours that was constructive. Secondary support held, and they rallied in the afternoon, with the NDX retesting the earlier highs, but when the SPX failed to confirm that they rolled over in the last 15 minutes and gave back about 40-50% of the rally.

Net on the day the Dow was up only 3 points to just under 6930, the S&P 500 up 1.72 at 721.32, and the Nasdaq 100 up 13.51 at 1125.95. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) gained 4.18 to 210, or 2 percent.

Advance-declines were positive by about 3 to 2 positive on New York and by just 31 issues on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 3 to 2 positive on New York on total volume of about 1.7 billion. Nasdaq traded just under 2.2 billion and had about a 2 1/2 to 1 positive volume ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board was mixed with several point-plus gainers and losers. Large-cap stocks did well, with Apple (AAPL) up 4.05 to 92.68 and Amazon (AMZN) up 2.83 to 68.54. Potash (POT) was up 3.13 to 78.14 in the agriculture sector, with Mosaic (MOS) up 1.44 to 45.53 and Agrium (AGU) up 1.95 to 37.05.

Financials were firm in the morning, pulled back mid-day and then came on again near the close. JP Morgan (JPM) was up 90 cents to 20.40, and Morgan Stanley (MS) up 1.67 to 22.51. Hartford Financial Services (HIG) was up 23 cents to 5.42. Bank of America (BAC) gained 14 cents to 4.93, substantially off its earlier high. Wells Fargo (WFC) gained 7 cents to 11.88, but traded nearly 90 cents higher earlier in the day.

On the downside, SunPower (SPWR) on negative comments in an analyst day fell 1.51 to 24.05. Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) dropped 89 cents to 17.43, and DG FastChannel (DGIT) lost 1.01 to 15.52.

The Direxion Financial Bear 3x Shares (FAZ) was down 5.41 to 56.09, and the U.S. Oil Fund ETF (USO) dropped 1.53 as oil retreated. Boxer Short ESRX fell 2.76 to 44.75.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices extended yesterday's gains and the breakout from the declining tops lines and moving averages, and did well today to consolidate for most of the session and then bounce late to end slightly positive on the day. Two days in a row in the plus column -- we'll take it!

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.