The stock market indices had a topsy-turvy session with a very strong morning rally, a double top mid-day and then an equally sharp rollover, especially on S&P 500, as the indices gave back all of their gain and then some, closing negatively on the blue chips, slightly positive on the Nasdaq 100, but generally a very negative way to end the session.

The day started out with a gap down. They tested support successfully at 1090 SPX and 1792 NDX, and then bounced and retested. When that second retest was successful, they then rallied sharply, fueled by a positive consumer confidence index report. Then they paused mid-morning, before breaking out on the NDX, taking out yesterday’s double-top and this morning’s high as well.

The SPX at that point barely made a new high and when the NDX moved higher to secondary resistance near 1825, the SPX couldn’t make further progress. Both of them double-topped mid-day and then rolled over in a sharp 3-wave decline that ended near the afternoon pullback lows.

Net on the day the Dow was off 2.79 and closed about 90 points off its high. The S&P 500 fell 4.62, about 11 points off its high, and the Nasdaq 100 was up 1.47, but still about 22 points off its high.

Advance-declines were just under 2 to 1 negative on New York and about 2 to 1 negative on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was more than 2 to 1 negative on New York on total volume of 1.1 billion. Nasdaq traded 2.3 billion and had a 6 to 5 negative volume ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board was mostly lower, but there were a few gainers. VMware (VMW) was up 5.29 to 47.29 on strong earnings and upgrades and Amlyn Pharmaceuticals (AMLN), up 1.56 to 19.01 on 19 million shares.

Canadian Solar (CSIQ) had a nice session, snapping back from a 21.85 low to a 23.80 high, closing up 69 cents to 23.04 on nearly 3 million. Incyte Pharmaceutical (INCY) gained 50 cents to 10.29 on 4 1/2 million shares traded.

On the downside, the Direxion Financial Bull 3x Shares (FAS) dropped 3.24 to 67.91, China Automotive (CAAS) 1.34 to 17.17, China Agritech (CAGC) 1.10 to 28.18, and RINO International (RINO) 1.02 to 20.08, as many Chinese stocks continued to move lower today.

A-Power Energy (APWR) gave back 72 cents to 11.91, now nearly cut in half from its high of last month. Telestone Technologies (TSTC) lost 88 cents to 14.74, and SmartHeat (HEAT) 44 cents to 13.27, among other weak Chinese stocks today. Brigham Exploration (BEXP) fell 50 cents to 13.25 in the junior oil sector.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices moved down at the opening, tested support successfully, ran up in a 3-wave advance that took out yesterday’s high on the NDX but just barely confirming on the SPX, and then rolled over to bounce off support before caving in and rolling over into the close.

It was a very negative way to end the session, which does not augur well going forward tomorrow. Key support levels to watch for tomorrow are 1791 NDX and 1090 SPX.

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