The stock market indices had a very strong morning, but by midday the S&P 500’s rally was not accompanied by the Nasdaq, which saw pressure from Apple (APPL), dropping 4.83 today to 358.30 on rumors regarding Steve Jobs’ health.

Net on the day, the indices closed mixed, with the Dow up 29.97 at 12,318.14, the S&P 500 up 4.11 at 1340.43, and the Nasdaq 100 down 0.37 at 2397.57.

Advance-declines were positive by 3 to 2 on the New York Stock Exchange and on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was a little better than 2 to 1 positive on New York on very low total volume of 870 million. Nasdaq traded over 1.9 billion shares, and had about an 11 to 7 positive ratio on up volume over down volume.

TheTechTrader.com board was mixed but mostly higher today. Leading the way, Weight Watchers International, Inc. (WTW) was up 20.47 to 65.39, nearly 46%. It opened at 59.00 and traded as low as 58.27 before rocketing 8 more points at one point to 66.22.

We day-traded the stock, whose chart from today’s sesion is featured in our new Winner of the Day video.

Other gainers of note, Interphase Corp. (INPH) was up 1.53 to 5.93, a 34.7% gain. Nanometrics Incorporated (NANO) jumped 2.22 to 19.84, NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) 2.30 to 25.68, Timberland Co. (TBL) 8.86 to 38.36, Hardinge Inc. (HDNG) 2.41 to 11.55, and China MediaExpress Holdings, Inc. (CCME) 1.61 to 14.26.

In addition, Stratasys Inc. (SSYS) gained 2.25 to 47.70. IDT Corporation (IDT) snapped back 1.28 to 27.15, eHealth, Inc. (EHTH) advanced 1.77 to 13.41, and BSQUARE Corp. (BSQR) 1.40 to 13.18.

On the downside, Molycorp, Inc. (MCP) lost 1.22 to 47.65, and Goldman Sachs (GS) dropped 1.65 to 167.16.

It was very unusual that Goldman and Apple, two market leaders, were both down today, perhaps a sign of an impending turn of the market. We shall see.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices gapped lower at the opening, cracked minor support on the Nasdaq 100, but the S&P 500 failed to confirm, and then snapped back in a 5-wave advance, especially on the S&P 500. However, as indicated earlier, by midday the 2400 level became, apparently, too formidable for the NDX to overcome, and it backed off to close at 2397, slightly lower on the session.

We’ll see how it goes tomorrow, but the rally continues.

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