The stock market indices closed at the lows for the day going away after an early rally attempt failed. It was the second down-day in a row, as the downside follow-through broke some key levels, and the indices had some key rally failures early on near resistance.

The day started out with a move up from the get-go. The SPX and NDX rallied right near resistance, failed to punch through and rolled over steadily into the afternoon, the bounced in late afternoon, but in the last 15 minutes rolled over sharply and closed at the lows for the day going away.

Net on the day the Dow was down 107.46 at 8504.67, the S&P 500 down 11.75 at 911.97, and the Nasdaq 100 down 13.71 at 1443 1/4. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) fell 6.79 at 253.71.

Advance-declines were about 2 1/2 to 1 negative on New York and a like amount on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 4 1/2 to 1 negative on New York on total volume of a lighter 1.16 billion. Nasdaq traded 2.2 billion and had about a 4 to 1 negative volume ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board was mixed but generally lower. Leading the way to the downside was Potash (POT), down 4.16 to 107.18. Mosaic (MOS) fell 1.91 to 51.21, and PMTI lost 1.15 to 16.09.

Those were the only point-plus losers on our board, other than a couple ETF’s, the iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index (FXI) down 1 to 3723 and the iShares MSCI Brazil Index ETF (EWZ), down 1.39 to 53.22.

On the plus side, Goldman Sachs (GS) managed to gain 1.15 to 144.16 and the Direxion Small Cap 3x Bear (TZA) jumped 1.16 to 23.86.

Most other stocks on our board were up or down by less than 50 cents, with the Direxion Financial Bear 3x Shares (FAZ) up 23 cents and the Direxion Financial Bull 3x Shares (FAS) down 48 cents.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were up in the morning, down mid-day, tried to bounce late afternoon, but rolled over and closed at the lows for the day going away, a very good day for the bears indeed.

We’ll see if we get some downside follow-through, which we’re expecting over the next few days.

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