The stock market indices had a topsy-turvy day, but ended near the flat line. The day started out with a big gap up, and then it sold off immediately, consolidated midday, and then rallied early afternoon only to rollover hard in the last hour and a half or so and closed near the session lows.

Net on the day, the Dow was down 3.03 at 11,359.16. The S&P 500 up 0.63 at 1223.75. Nasdaq 100 was down 0.46 at 2189.35.

Advance-decline on the New York Stock Exchange were nearly flat, just a little bit ahead, as was overall volume. Total volume today on New York was just under 2 billion shares with a 10 to 9 positive ratio. Up/down volume on Nasdaq was 9 to 5 negative, but advance-declines were 15 to 11 1/2 positive. A very mixed day today.

TheTechTrader.com board was higher. Leading the way today was Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ONXX), up 3.95 to 33.29. Georgia Gulf Corp. (GGC) advanced 1.22 to 23.11, Monster Worldwide, Inc. (MWW) 85 cents to 24.08, and VIVUS Inc. (VVUS) 75 cents to 7.80, trading another 40 cents higher in the aftermarket. ZAGG Incorporated (ZAGG) gained 67 cents to 8.11, and ProShares UltraShort Silver (ZSL) 96 cents to 11.51 on the plunge in silver, but 1.30 off its low.

On the downside there were many losers. Point-plus losers included Rosetta Resources, Inc. (ROSE) down 2.76 to 34.89, Polypore International Inc. (PPO) 1.03 to 40.99, Goldman Sachs (GS) 1.06 to 161.59, Golden Minerals Company (AUMN) 1.16 to 26.43, Amtech Systems Inc. (ASYS) 1.11 to 23.88, Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) 1.28 to 176.77, and Apple Inc. (AAPL) 1.94 to 318.21.

Many other stocks were down but by smaller fractions. IDT Corporation (IDT) dropped 80 cents to 22.62, L & L Energy, Inc. (LLEN) 70 cents to 12.43, and SodaStream International Ltd. (SODA) 81 cents to 34.19 after trading as high as 36.43.

The ultra-short ETFs were mixed today for the most part, with the late plunge sending some of them into the plus column. The Direxion Daily Emrg Mkts Bear 3X Shares (EDZ) was up 33 cents to 22.06, up from 20.99, but the Direxion Daily Small Cap Bear 3X Shares (TZA) was down 29 cents to 17.00, a mixed picture.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were up in the morning, pulled back midday, rallied in the afternoon, and plunged in the last hour to close near the flat line.

So, we’ll see what that means tomorrow and whether there’s any follow-through or not.

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