The markets were up in the morning, and flattened out by mid-day on the S&P 500, although the Nasdaq 100 kept making higher highs. In the last hour that negative divergence finally affected the indices, as they both rolled over, closing with losses in the Dow and S&P 500, still managing to hang on to gains on the NDX and Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX). So, it was a mixed close.

The day started out with a firm move off the opening, and then a test of the intraday moving averages ensued. When that was successful they rallied sharply, backed off, by mid-day broke out again on the NDX, but the SPX could not confirm. A second breakout took the NDX to even higher highs, above 1410, but the SPX was barely able to make just a fractional nominal new high before the last-hour rollover.

Net on the day the Dow was down 29.23 at 8474.85, the S&P 500 down 1.58 at 908.13, and the Nasdaq 100 up 5.32 at 1398.05. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) was up 5.05 at 256.33, a nearly 2 percent gain.

The technicals narrowed to a 3 to 2 positive ratio on advance-declines on New York but positive by just 30 issues on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was a little worse than 7 to 5 positive on New York on total volume of over 1.3 billion. Nasdaq traded 2.1 billion and had just under a 2 to 1 positive volume ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board was mixed and narrow. Agriculture/chemical stocks were strong again, with Potash (POT) up 3.02 to 114.48, and Mosaic (MOS) up 1.87 at 56.87.

Junior solars were strong. Canadian Solar (CSIQ) was up 78 cents to 8.91, SunPower (SPWR) jumped 1.45 to 27.78, and Suntech Power (STP) gained 76 cents to 15.10. Solarfun (SOLF) added 1.38 to 6.45, a 27 percent gain. YGE advanced was up 32 cents to 8.82.

Former portfolio position Brigham Exploration (BEXP) snapped back smartly, closing at 2.90, up 31 cents, and AgFeed Industries (FEED) gained 34 cents to 4.47. Previous portfolio position SYNNEX (SNX) was up 95 cents to 24.46, and Chart of the Day China Green Agriculture (CGA) was up 62 cents to 8.40.

On the downside, financials were weak & put pressure on the indices all session. GS lost 2 to 141.15, and JP Morgan (JPM) 1.45 to 35.81. Wells Fargo (WFC) fell 1.48 to 25.45, and Bank of America (BAC) was down 48 cents to 11 Ã,¼.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, they were up most of the session but rolled over in the last hour to pare the gains on the Nasdaq and fell into the loss column on the Dow and SPX, and so ended mixed on the session. We’ll see if today’s late pullback is meaningful or nothing more than a blip in the trend.

Harry Boxer is a technical consultant to many Wall Street hedge funds and large institutional traders, and author of TheTechTrader.com.