The stock market indices had a pretty nasty selloff, especially in the morning when they nearly fell apart, gapping lower at the opening and then moving sharply lower after the opening gap. The indices dropped from SPX 1150 to 1129, and the NDX from 1895 down to 1847, and then bounced around mid-day, retested, and when that was successful the indices started a snapback rally that recovered a little less than half the total losses, but still a nasty day on the indices.

Net on the day the Dow was down 122.28 at , the S&P 500 down 12.19 at 1138.04, 9 points off its low, and the Nasdaq 100 down 27.53 at 1867.95, closing about 19 points off its low, at one point down more than 46.

So, a definite afternoon snapback rally, and they managed to hold the rally highs into the close.

However, the technicals were not able to catch up with the snapback rally. Advance-declines ended about 3 to1 negative on New York and 2 1/2 to 1 negative on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was nearly 4 to 1 negative on New York on total volume of just over 1 billion. Nasdaq traded about 2 1/3 billion and had a little less than 3 to 1 negative volume ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board was mostly lower. However, there were some outstanding stocks on the upside today. Portfolio position Rambus (RMBS)jumped 3.37 to 24.50 on 24.4 million shares on a positive settlement with Samsung. Cree Inc. (CREE) was up 9.38 to 63.59 on excellent earnings and upgrades.

Low-priced Dearborn Bancorp (DEAR) in the banking sector ran with a lot of others in the banking sector today, closing up 1.40 at 2.01, for a gain of 226% in one session today. We traded that intraday in our Trading Diary.

Other gainers of note, Chinese telecom Telestone Technologies (TSTC) snapped back nearly 2 points from its low, up 95 cents at 21.09. Portfolio position Xyratex (XRTX) was up 22 cents to 6.50, a very strong relative performance, and portfolio position Energy Recovery (ERII) moved up 13 cents at 6.64.

The other gainers on our board today were the ultrashort ETFs, with the Direxion Large Cap Bear 3X Shares (BGZ) up 43 cents to 15.91, UltraShort Real Estate ProShares (SRS) up 15 cents to 7.40, and the Direxion Small Cap 3x Bear (TZA) up 37 cents to 9.02.

On the downside, point-plus losers included China Automotive (CAAS), which fell 1.48 to 19.84, and China Agritech (CAGC), down 1.69 to 33.40. Sourcefire (FIRE) lost 1.06 to 23.14, shipper Genco (GNK) 1.33 to 23.32, and RINO International (RINO) 1.77 to 24.05.

The U.S. Oil Fund ETF (USO) gave back 1.04 as oil backed off to close at 37.89. The Direxion Large Cap Bull 3X Shares (BGU) was down 1.70 to 55.92.

SmartHeat (HEAT) fell 95 cents to 16.19, and Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals (HITK) 60 cents to 25.27. MAP Pharmaceuticals (MAPP) dropped 57 cents to 15.23, and ICX Technologies (ICXT) 41 cents to 7.83.

Revlon (REV) gave back 94 cents to 17.19, and Origin Agritech (SEED) 57 cents to 12.20.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were down very sharply in the morning, cracked through moving averages and price support on the hourly charts, slightly took out the 1130-32 zone but held right there and bounced.

Now very key support continues to exist around 1130 SPX, which was a key level that held today, and now 1850-55 zone on the NDX is important short-term support.

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