The stock market indices finally suffered a down day today, but not too bad, though. There was some volatility with the indices swinging back and forth several times today in a trading range.

The day started out with a move down, then a bounce, and then lower lows reaching the session lows on the Nasdaq 100 in the first 40 minutes or so. S&P 500 also reached morning lows at that point, and then started a 3-wave rally back to resistance. At that point they stalled for about an hour, then rolled over to retest, and when that was successful they bounced in the last hour. They pared back the losses, but were still down.

Net on the day, the Dow was down 41.55 at 12,226.64, the S&P 500 down 4.31 at 1328.92, and the Nasdaq 100 down 3.68 at 2381.92.

Advance-declines were a little worse than 3 to 2 negative on the New York Stock Exchange, and about a similar amount on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was about 4 to 3 negative on New York on total volume of a light 840 million. Nasdaq traded just over 2 billion shares and had a little better than 2 to 1 negative plurality as well.

TheTechTrader.com board was active today, and there quite a few winners as well as losers. Leading the way, Clinical Data, Inc. (CLDA) was up 4.11 to 33.63. Low-priced BSD Medical Corp. (BSDM) jumped 31 cents to 4.77, up 7%. Cynosure, Inc. (CYNO) gained 1.73 to 13.68, or nearly 15%. Limelight Networks, Inc. (LLNW) had a spectacular session, up 27%, or 1.74, to close at 8.20. Mad Catz Interactive Inc. (MCZ) rose 38 cents to 1.99, up 24%, and Insight Enterprises Inc. (NSIT) 3.02 to 17.63, or 20%. Nova Measuring Instruments Ltd. (NVMI) tacked on 87 cents to 11.07, up 8 1/2%, and Opko Health, Inc. (OPK) 45 cents, or 10%, to 4.89.

Other gainers of note, Perry Ellis International Inc. (PERY) advanced 1.53 to 30.81, and Research Frontiers Inc. (REFR), a swing trade of ours, was up 46 cents to 8.56. Solta Medical, Inc. (SLTM) added 43 cents to 3.49, Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (SPPI) 53 cents to 6.99, Tengion, Inc. (TNGN) 39 cents to 5.62, and TowerStream Corporation (TWER) 31 cents to 4.88. Vonage Holdings Corporation (VG) closed at 4.58, up 77 cents, and Warner Chilcott plc (WCRX) at 24.74, up 1.01. Wyndham Worldwide Corporation (WYN) gained 2.03 to 31.73, and lastly Youku.com Inc. American Deposit (YOKU) 3.08 to 32.97.

On the downside, losers included Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG), dropping 7.38 to 265.58. Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) lost 1.39 to 189.03, Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. (BWLD) 1.02 to 55.74, IDT Corporation (IDT) 1.54 to 26.19, Lululemon Athletica Inc. (LULU) 2.17 to 81.53, Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. (NOG) 1.34 to 28.56, Ultra Clean Holdings Inc. (UCTT) 2.59 to 10.59 on negative earnings, and STEC, Inc. (STEC) 1.33 to 22.35.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices spent the day moving back and forth at a lower level, but held support today, and then rallied in the last hour.

We’ll see if the indices had a successful test of support today, or just began a new down leg.

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