The stock market indices started off the week on a negative note from the get-go, opening lower, then bouncing, dropping to lower lows, bouncing one more time, and then really rolling over hard to the lows for the day by just before noon. At that point the Nasdaq 100 dropped to 1963.68 and the S&P 500 down to around 1132, and then they moved their way back up slowly but surely in what looked like bear-type formations over the course of the rest of the session, but did pare back the losses.

Net of the day, the Dow was down 78.41 to 10,751.23, the S&P 500 down 9.21 to 1137.03, and the Nasdaq 100 down 21.27 at 1975.33.

Advance-declines were nearly 3 to 1 negative on the New York Stock Exchange, and 2 1/2 to 1 negative on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was a little less than 4 to 1 negative on New York on total volume of a light 935 million shares. Nasdaq traded just under 1.9 billion shares today and had about a 2 1/2 to 1 negative ratio on declining volume over advancing volume.

TheTechTrader.com board, as a result, was mostly negative, but there were some outstanding upside issues. Leading the way was Isilon Systems, Inc. (ISLN) up 2.05 to 25.16 on takeover rumors, Gold Resource Corp (GORO) up 1.70 to 20.70, and BSD Medical Corp. (BSDM) up 79 cents to 3.94, a nice percentage gain there. MedQuist Inc. (MEDQ) advanced 67 cents to 11.78.

Among other stocks of note, Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) jumped 1.68 to 155.39, and VirnetX Holding Corp (VHC), a standout for our swing traders, 1.75 to 16.80, reaching as high as 17.25 today. Dendreon Corp. (DNDN) gained 38 cents to 40.99.

On the downside, the point-plus losers included Apple Inc. (AAPL) down 3.88 to 278.64, JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (JKS) down 2.47 to 29.42 in a weak solar group, Radware Ltd. (RDWR) 1.33 to 33.42, and Transocean Ltd. (RIG) 1.31 to 63.04. Trina Solar Ltd. (TSL), also in the solar group, dropped 1.54 to 27.92. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (GMCR) gave back 1.16 to 28.41, Goldman Sachs (GS) 1.13 to 146.57, Cree Inc. (CREE) 1.20 to 52.29, and BP Exploration plc (BP) 1.13 to 40.82.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were down sharply in the morning, stabilized mid-day and consolidated, and then moved up a little in the afternoon, but still ended up negatively on the day. The key to today's action was that the moving averages on the hourly charts rolled over, price support was broken today early on in the session, and we may have completed a topping-type formation.

We'll see if there’s any downside follow-through tomorrow.

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