The stock market indices had a strong morning, a weak mid-day and a very strong last hour that brought them back from negative positive into the positive column for most of the indices, but the Dow closed down 11.94 and wasn’t able to get back into the plus side. But the late rally held key support on the hourly charts of the NDX and SPX to bounce smartly in the last hour.

Nasdaq was weaker, but the Nasdaq 100 managed to close up 1.73 at 1888.43, the S&P 500 closed up 3.53 to 1136.52, and as stated the Dow close down 11.94 at 10572.02.

Advance-declines were 3 to 2 positive on New York but negative by 300 issues on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was a little better than 2 to 1 positive on New York on light total volume of 1.18 billion. Nasdaq traded 2.2 billion and had a 6 to 5 positive volume ratio.

The majority of stocks on TheTechTrader.com board did well, particularly the Chinese stocks, which had another spectacular session. Leading the way there, RINO International (RINO) jumped 3.24 to 31.48, China Automotive (CAAS) 2.95 to 23.80, China Agritech (CAGC) 1.95 to 34.66, Canadian Solar (CSIQ) 1.72 to 32.71, A-Power Energy (APWR) 1.55 to 19.39, and Telestone Technologies (TSTC) 1.50 to 23.75, just to name a few stronger Chinese issues today.

Also running today, the Direxion Financial Bull 3x Shares (FAS) advanced 2.99 to 80.91, the Direxion Large Cap Bull 3X Shares (BGU) 52 cents to 55.72.

Other stocks of note, Origin Agritech (SEED) was up 73 cents to 12.96, STEC Inc. (STEC) 82 cents to 19.16, Rambus (RMBS) 63 cents to 23.86, Nanometrics (NANO) 46 cents to 11.63, Incyte Pharmaceuticals (INCY) 77 cents to 10.27, Genco (GNK) in the shipping group up 61 cents to 25.32, and China Green Agriculture (CGA) 35 cents to 16.32.

On the downside, AsiaInfo (ASIA) fell 2.51 to 28.88. Revlon (REV) lost 84 cents to 17.07, Xyratex (XRTX) 54 cents to 13.67, Sourcefire (FIRE) 69 cents to 27.09, and Brigham Exploration (BEXP) 57 cents to 14.43. The Direxion Financial Bear 3x Shares (FAZ) dropped 72 cents to 17.72 in the ultrashort ETF sector.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, they dipped early on, snapped back with a vengeance to new highs for the year, then had a 5-wave decline that culminated in a slight break on the NDX but held it on the SPX and did not confirm the NDX break. That resulted in a late snapback rally that got near the high for the day going away on the S&P 500.

Another passed test for the bulls!

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