The stock market indices marked time today and basically consolidated for most of the session, moving back and forth in narrow ranges. A late sell-off brought them back to near the session lows.

Net on the day, the Dow was up 1.81 at 12,041.97, the S&P 500 down 3.56 at 1304.03, and the Nasdaq 100 down 3.86 at 2321.09.

Advance-declines were about 16 to 14 negative on the New York Stock Exchange, and 14 to 11 1/2 negative on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was a little less than 2 to 1 negative on New York with total volume just over 900 million. Nasdaq traded about 1.9 billion shares and had a positive volume ratio of 11 to 8.

TheTechTrader.com board was mostly higher, and there were a lot of point-plus gainers today. Leading the way was Acme Packet, Inc. (APKT) on strong earnings, up 11.45 to 67.36. Electronic Arts Inc. (ERTS) advanced 2.48 to 18.10. Travelzoo Inc. (TZOO), a swing trade idea of ours, jumped 3.20 to 52.65. BroadSoft, Inc. (BSFT), a day trade idea, gained 4.59 to 32.69. ARM Holdings PLC (ARMH) was up 1.57 to 28.70, Amtech Systems Inc. (ASYS) 1.75 to 28.14, Crown Holdings Inc. (CCK) 1.94 to 35.64, and Unisys Corporation (UIS) 5.57 to 34.91, a big winner for us.

Rare-earth stocks moved for us today. Molycorp, Inc. (MCP) rose 4.65 to 53.25, Rare Element Resources Ltd. (REE) 1.78 to 14.45, and China Shen Zhou Mining & Resources, Inc. (SHZ) 76 cents to 6.51, with Avalon Rare Metals (AVL) up 61 cents to 6.47.

In addition, Manitowoc Co. Inc. (MTW) was up 1.11 to 18.22, and Magic Software Enterprises Ltd. (MGIC) 1.22 to 9.34. Superconductor Technologies Inc. (SCON) was the big percentage gainer today, up 91 cents to 2.93, a 45% gain on big volume. Cheniere Energy, Inc. (LNG) jumped 42 cents to 8.19 in the strong junior oil group, which also included Alon USA Energy, Inc. (ALJ), up 65 cents to 8.64.

Among other gainers of note, NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA), a swing trade idea of ours, jumped 1.12 to 25.59. Power-One Inc. (PWER) closed up 50 cents to 11.79, SinoCoking and Coke Chemical Industries, Inc. (SCOK) 62 cents to 12.68, and Silicon Graphics International Corp. (SGI) 75 cents to 10.90, and sharply higher in the aftermarket. Evergreen Energy, Inc. (EEE) increased 51 cents to 3.27, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG) 7.00 to 228.90, Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) 1.42 to 173.53, and SodaStream International Ltd. (SODA) jumped 1.11 to 43.00 even.

On the downside, there was only one point-plus loser on our board today, Lululemon Athletica Inc. (LULU), down 1.29 to 71.91 after gaining more than 4.00 yesterday.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were very choppy and narrow today, and consolidated for most of the session, but after yesterday’s gain it must be construed as bullish action.

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

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