The stock market indices had a down day but they did have some volatility. They were sharply lower in the morning, snapped back sharply midday to retest the highs, but once again yesterday’s highs at 1760 on the Nasdaq 100 and 1075 on the S&P 500 proved formidable. In the afternoon the indices backed off in a mini 5-way decline to close down on a session.

At the end of the day the Dow was down 20.26 at 10,038.38, the S&P 500 down 2.39 at 1068.13, and the Nasdaq 100 down 4.08 at 1749.76.

Advance-declines were negative by just 11 issues on the New York Stock Exchange, nearly flat. Up/Down volume was just 5 to 4 negative on New York on total volume right at a billion today. Nasdaq traded right at 2 billion shares and had about an 11 to 8 1/2 negative volume ratio. Advance-declines were negative by just 27 issues, also very flat on Nasdaq.

Today may be construed as a consolidation day with flat technicals.

TheTechTrader.com board, however, was mostly higher with just a few stocks up more than a point. Leading the way was Netgear (NTGR), at 23.96 up 2.20. China Automotive (CAAS) at 17.18 was up 1.39, and Direxion Financial Bull 3x Shares (FAS) at 64.77 was up 1.44. Those were the only point-plus gainers on our board.

Large fractional gainers of note were Telestone Technologies (TSTC) at 15.34 up 65 cents, SmartHeat (HEAT) at 12.25 up 52 cents, and Athersys (ATHX) at 3.29 up 41 cents. Other than that most gainers were up just small fractions.

On the downside, no point plus losers. Large fractional losers included Genco Shipping (GNK) at 18.39 down 90 cents and Sourcefire (FIRE) 23.19 up 44 cents.

In the ETF sector, the Direxion Financial Bear 3x Shares (FAZ) lost 47 cents to 20.80, while most other ETF’s were off just very small fractions.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the overall charts basically narrowed today, as the declining tops and rising bottoms converged in a wedge-like fashion. It will be interesting to see if the indices are able to break it out to upside and extend or rollover below key support now at 1735-40 on the NDX and 1056-60 on the SPX.

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