The indices suffered a nasty slide to end the week. After some early morning vacillation they rolled over hard around 10:30 and just kept going. By mid-afternoon they reached 1665 NDX and 1035 SPX. Over the course of the last couple hours they backed and filled, rallying sharply twice and pulling back sharply. In the last 10 minutes they rolled over and closed near the lows for the day.

Net on the day the Dow was down nearly 250 to 9712.73, the S&P 500 nearly 30 at 1036.19, and the Nasdaq 100 more than 44 at 1667.13.

The technicals were horrendous with 400 stocks up and 2660 down on New York and on Nasdaq 509 to 2203. Up/down volume was about 20 to 1 negative on New York on total volume of over 1.6 billion. Nasdaq traded over 2.6 billion and had a 12 to 1 negative volume ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board was mostly negative except for a couple issues and some ultrashorts.

Leading the way to the upside today was the Direxion Financial Bear 3x Shares (FAZ), up 2.55 to 22.94, but the Direxion Large Cap Bear 3X Shares (BGZ) jumped 1.67 to 22.28, and the Direxion Small Cap 3x Bear (TZA) 1.11 to 14.28.

Nanometrics (NANO) advanced 1 over 8.20, trading as high as 9 at one point on positive news. Spreadtrum Communications (SPRD) gained 37 cents to 5.72, and Vanda Pharmaceuticals (VNDA) 22 cents to 10.20.

Those were the only gainers our board, other than the UltraShort Real Estate ProShares (SRS), which also gained 38 cents.

On the downside, financials led the way, Goldman Sachs (GS) down 8.41 to 170.17. American International Group (AIG) 2.63 to 33.62, Wells Fargo (WFC) 1.05 to 27.52, JP Morgan (JPM) 2.58 to 41.77, and Morgan Stanley (MS) 1.55 to 32.12.

Other stocks of note, RINO International (RINO) gave back 1.37 to 19.62, and Dendreon (DNDN) 1.31 to 25.27. Sourefire (FIRE) was down 2.01 to 20.30, and American Superconductor (AMSC) gave back 1.82 from yesterday’s big gain to 33.52.

The ultrashorts were the story today, with the Direxion Financial Bull 3x Shares (FAS) dropping nearly 10, down 9.76 to 67.59. The Direxion Daily Small Cap Bull 3x Shares (TNA) gave back 3.32 to 36.10, Direxion Large Cap Bull 3X Shares (BGU) 4.36 to 47.09, and the U.S. Oil Fund ETF (USO) 1.58 to 39.32 as oil retrenched today.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, it was down and dirty for most of the session, then vacillating for the next three hours, only to roll over again into the close to close near the session lows. A nasty way to end the week, closing not only near weekly lows but near key support levels on the Nasdaq 100. We’ll be watching the 1655-60 zone just beneath there, which are the early October lows on the NDX, and keeping an eye on the 1020-25 zone on the SPX, which are also the early October lows.

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