The markets started out from the get-go today with a move up, and then went into a slower, more tedious decline, but most of the indices closed at new 2005 highs.

The advance reached as high as 1704 on the Nasdaq 100 and 10,950 on the Dow, with a high of over 1270 on the S&P 500 before sellers stepped in with about 90 minutes to go, taking the markets down pretty hard.  But they held at the two-day rising trendlines and secondary price support intraday, and still managed to close up on the day.

The Dow was up 44.66, the S&P up 4.38, and the NDX up 2.63.  But the SOX was down 2.39, giving up a 4-point earlier gain.

The technicals were positive by just 3 to 2 on advance-declines on New York.  There were just about 200 more advancers on Nasdaq.  But up/down volume was very strong by 2 to 1 positive on Nasdaq with over 1.5 billion traded in a pre-holiday session.   New York traded about 1.425 billion.

TheTechTrader.com board was very mixed.  The leaders were JAMDAT Mobile (JMDT) up 1.74 and World Poker Tour (WPTE) up 1.66. Forward Industries (FORD) was up 1.16.  Biovail (BVF) snapped back 75 cents.  Cutera (CUTR) gained 59 cents, after making a new all-time high over 40, and Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) snapped back 60 cents.  UTStarcom (UTSI) was up 62 cents.

On the downside, Dialysis Corp. of America (DCAI), after making a new rally high, dropped more than 2 points, closing down 1.06 on the day, a big reversal day there.  Astea International (ATEA) gave back 85 cents and Convera (CNVR) 91 cents.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the rally continued again today, but did suffer profit-taking late in the session.

We'll see how it goes, and whether or not there's any meaningful signals in the pre-holiday late declines, but most likely not.

TheTechTrader.com board is closed Friday for the holidays, and we'll see you Monday.

Good trading!

Harry Boxer is a technical consultant to many Wall Street hedge funds and large institutional traders, and author of TheTechTrader.com, a real-time diary of his day, swing and intermediate-term trades. For more of Harry Boxer, sign up for a FREE 15-day trial to his Real-Time Technical Trading Diary, or sign up for a Free 30-Day Trial to his Top Charts of the Week service.