The indices ended mixed on the session. After a strong morning, they backed off in the afternoon in a 3 wave decline, but firmed in the last 10-15 minutes to take back some of the afternoon pullback losses.

On the day the Dow was down 34.68 at 8881.26, about 70 points off its high. The S&P 500 fell 0.51 at 954.07, nearly 6 points off its high, and the Nasdaq 100 was up for the 11th straight session, gaining 11.99 to 1565, about 7 points off its high. That was helped by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX), which gained 7.80, or 2 Ã,½ percent, to 301.77.

Advance-declines were 17 to 13 positive on New York and 16 to 10 on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was less than 3 to 2 positive on New York on light total volume of just over 1 billion. However, Nasdaq traded more than 2 Ã,¼ billion and had better than a 2 to 1 positive volume ratio.

As a result of the up in the morning and down in the afternoon action, most of the stocks on the TheTechTrader.com board were rather mixed.

Apple (AAPL) led the way, up 5.23 to 156.74 after a solid earnings report. Favorite OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals (OGXI) was up 3.12 to 25.87, breaking out of a 6-week coil consolidation.

STEC Inc. (STEC) gained 1.05 to 34.83, tagging 35 today, a new all-time high.

Vanda Pharmaceuticals (VNDA) jumped 65 cents to 14, reaching as high as 15 earlier in the day.

Orexigen Therapeutics (OREX) was up 75 cents to 8.27, although that reached as high 9.47 earlier in the session.

Fuel System Solutions (FSYS) was up 70 cents to 23.22, and BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (BCRX) up 31 cents to 7.89, along with China Green Agriculture (CGA) up 33 cents to 7.73.

Human Genome Sciences (HGSI) closed at 14.05, up 21 cents, but reached as high as 14.83 earlier in the day.

Low-priced Infosonics (IFON), a model portfolio position, jumped to a new nearly 2-year high today, up 25 cents to 2.08, a gain of 14 percent.

On the downside, only Potash (POT) was down more than a point, down 2.23 at 88.92.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, they were up early, then a sharp pullback held support and then they ran hard to new multi-week rally highs and in some cases new 2009 rally highs. But the afternoon sell-off pared back the gains and brought the Dow and S&P 500 into negative territory at the close.

We’ll see if any meaningful pullback results from today’s actions.

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