The stock market indices had a definitive downside follow-through today with a strong afternoon sell-off. In the morning they gapped up and snapped back to resistance, and then they pulled back to retest, which was successful, but the ensuing rally try did not get to their earlier highs. They rolled over and accelerated in the afternoon and closed near the session lows.

Net on the day, the Dow was down 148.89 at 10,293.52, closing 200 points off its high. The S&P 500 dropped 17.89 to 1095.31, closing 23 points off its high, and the Nasdaq 100 lost 15.30 to 1880.54, 37 points off its high. So there were definitive reversals off the early morning rally attempt.

The technicals confirmed a downside day as advance/declines were 4 to 1 negative on the New York Stock Exchange and 3 1/2 to 1 negative on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was about 13 to 1 negative on New York with total volume under 1.1 billion. Nasdaq traded just under 1.9 billion with a better than 8 to 1 negative ratio today.

TheTechTrader.com board, as a result, was mostly lower except for the ultra-shorts and Apple (AAPL). Apple jumped 3.68 to 273.85 as it was announced that the iPad sold 3 million copies in the first 80 days, an all-time record for any product.

The only other stocks on our board in the plus column were Cirrus Logic Inc. (CRUS) up 22 cents at 17.45, VIVUS Inc. (VVUS) up 16 cents at 9.80, and Mindspeed Technologies Inc. (MSPD) up 13 cents at 8.59.

In the ETF sector, the Direxion Daily Emrg Mkts Bear 3X Shares (EDZ) advanced 2.26 to 42.38, the iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (VXX) 1.01 to 26.49, the Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3X Shares (FAZ) 70 cents to 14.92, the Direxion Daily Large Cap Bear 3X Shares (BGZ) 72 cents at 15.30, and the Direxion Daily Small Cap Bear 3X Shares (TZA) 41 cents at 6.97.

On the downside, the leaders today were Goldman Sachs (GS) down 2.95 at 134.79, Google Inc. (GOOG) down 2.31 at 486.25, and Dendreon Corp. (DNDN) off 2.27 to 34.56.

Other point-plus losers included Transocean Ltd. (RIG) down 1.42 at 52.49, and Valassis Communications Inc. (VCI) down 1.21 at 35.36.

Point-plus losers in the weaker Chinese group were Cree Inc. (CREE), which lost 1.39 at 66.39, and China Agritech Inc. (CAGC), dropping 1.21 to 12.09. China Automotive Systems Inc. (CAAS) fell 1.03 to 19.42.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were up in the morning, pulled back mid-morning, and then retested the highs, but were unable to take them out, and rolled over for the rest of the day in stair-step fashion, closing near the session lows going away. A nasty downside followed through, with a break of key initial support and moving averages on the hourly index charts as the trend appears lower. There may be a snapback tomorrow morning at some point, but I do believe we're heading lower.

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