The stock market indices ended mixed on the day today after a mid-day and afternoon rally brought them back from early losses.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 opened lower, tried to bounce in the morning, but then gave it up. They hit new lows for the entire decline on the SPX down around 1063.90. At that point the NDX held near yesterdays lows around 1811, and without getting any further downside follow-through, the indices began a snapback. When the morning rally highs were taken out they extended that rally, but backed and filled in the last hour. They backed off, particularly in the last few minutes, to remain negative in the blue chips, but the NDX managed to stay positive today.

Net on the day, the Dow was down 57.59 at 10,213.62, about 66 points off its low. The S&P 500 was down 3.94 at 1071.69, closing about 8 points off its low. The Nasdaq 100 was up 2.75 at 1825.75.

Advance/declines were negative by about 3 to 2 negative on the New York Stock Exchange and by only 31 issues (13 to 12) on Nasdaq,. Up/down volume, however, was negative on New York by about 2 1/2 to 1 negative with a total volume of 1.1 billion. Nasdaq traded about 1.85 billion and had a 5 to 4 positive ratio on up/down volume today.

TheTechTrader.com board, as a result, was mixed. Leading the way on the plus side today was Intuit Inc. (INTU) up 5.83 at 44.60. There were large gains today from Akamai Technologies Inc. (AKAM), up 2.85 to 47.86, and Ameresco, Inc. (AMRC), which ran late today and jumped 1.13 to 11.23.

Wave Systems Corp. (WAVX) advanced 52 cents to 2.32 in the lower-priced sector, and Matrixx Initiatives Inc. (MTXX) 45 cents to 5.05.

In addtion, Acme Packet, Inc. (APKT) jumped 94 cents at 32.39, and Dendreon Corp. (DNDN) 81 cents at 38.22.

Leading the way on the downside was Google Inc. (GOOG), which dropped 5.95 to 462.02, and Transocean Ltd. (RIG) 1.31 to 51.00. Those were the only point-plus losers on our board.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were down in the morning, up in the afternoon, consolidated in the last hour, and closed mixed on the day, but did very little to stem the recent downtrend, which remains in force.

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