The stock market indices ended up on the day after a late snapback rally brought them back from a sharp afternoon sell-off. The day started out, however, with a bit of a dip lower, and then immediately reversed and rallied strongly. The Nasdaq 100 rallied from 1886 to 1911, and the S&P 500 from 1135 to 1145.

In the afternoon when they couldn't make any further progress and an early afternoon rally failed to take out the late morning highs, the indices rolled over, dropping the NDX from 1911 to 1893 and the S&P 500 from 1145 to 1137. In the last half hour they snapped back sharply to close back in the plus column after having gone red with just about 30 minutes to go.

Net on the day, the Dow was up 11.86 at 10,564.38 after reaching a high of 10,612.60. The S&P 500 was up 1.95 at 1140.44 with a high of 1145.77. The NDX was up 10.49 at 1901.30 with a high of 1911.38.

Advance-declines managed to stay positive by about 430 issues on the New York Stock Exchange and positive by about 300 issues on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was about 7 to 4 positive on New York on total volume of about 1.1 billion. Nasdaq traded more than 2 1/3 billion and had better than a 2 to 1 positive ratio on advancing volume over declining volume.

TheTechTrader.com board was quite mixed today, with some outstanding gainers and losers. On the plus side, American International Group (AIG) exploded from 28 to 34.80 at one point, closing at 32.77, up 3.67 on 58 million shares today. Skechers USA (SKX) at 32.47 was up 2.21.

Other stocks of note: Dendreon (DNDN) hit a new all time high at 36.86, closing at 36.41, up 98 cents on more than 5 million shares traded today. MAP Pharmaceuticals (MAPP) broke out across 15 resistance and closed at 15.50, up 63 cents. Netlist Inc. (NLST) jumped back across 5 for the first time in nearly 2 months, reaching 5.10 but backed off to 4.68, still up 47 cents today on a 3-month high of 8.75 million shares traded.

Insight Pharmaceuticals jumped 60 cents to 12.59. Portfolio position Halozyme Therapeutics (HALO) at 7.11 was up 25 cents, A-Power Energy (APWR) at 12.33 up 51 cents, EDAP TMS SA (EDAP) closed at 3.04 up 53 cents, AgFeed Industries (FEED) 4.89 up 38 cents, and Cerus Corporation (CERS) 2.64 up 28 cents.

On the downside, two point-plus losers today included Telestone Technologies (TSTC) at 19.07 down 1.49 and China Agritech (CAGC) at 29.33 down 1.12, both of those in the Chinese sector.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, we had a sharp morning rally, a midday rollover, a sharp pullback in the afternoon followed by a late snapback that left the indices slightly on the positive side, continuing the rally of the last several sessions. We'll see how tomorrow goes and whether today's pullback lows are able to hold support in the 1135-37 zone on the S&P 500, and around the 1890-93 zone on the Nasdaq 100.

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