It was turnaround Tuesday as the stock market indices opened higher, and that was it. They went lower the rest of the session in falling wedges, but couldn’t break out of those wedges and closed near the session lows, just pennies of the lows on the S&P 500.

Net on the day, the Dow closed down 168.32 at 12,058.02, the S&P 500 down 20.89 at 1306.33, and the Nasdaq 100 down 35.73 at 2315.26.

Advance-declines were better than 3 to 1 negative on the New York Stock Exchange and on Nasdaq as well. Up/down volume was more than 7 to 1 negative on New York with total volume of about 1.17 billion. Nasdaq traded about 2.1 billion shares, and had a 4 1/2 to 1 negative volume ratio.

It was quite the negative day on Wall Street today.

However, TheTechTrader.com board had some gainers. Leading the way were the precious metal stocks, gold and silver, in particular. Allied Nevada Gold Corp. (ANV) rose 3.76 to 34.10, Silvercorp Metals Inc. (SVM) 97 cents to 14.05, and Golden Minerals Company (AUMN) 1.30 to 22.35.

Molycorp, Inc. (MCP) gained 1.11 to 49.10. A couple of low-priced stocks did very well today, including Repros Therapeutics Inc. (RPRX), a junior biotech, up 1.29 to 5.79, nearly a 29% gain there. Sonus Networks (SONS) jumped 1.01 to 4.04 today, Amerigon Inc. (ARGN) 1.15 to 14.79, and PNM Resources, Inc. (PNM) 1.24 to 14.55.

In addition, the ultra-short ETFs had a stellar day. The iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (VXX) was up 2.27 to 32.45, Direxion Daily Small Cap Bear 3X Shares (TZA) up 2.31 to 41.09, the Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3X Shares (FAZ) up 2.38 to 40.93, and the Direxion Daily Large Cap Bear 3X Shares (BGZ) up 1.82 to 38.20.

On the downside major losses included SodaStream International Ltd. (SODA), which ran all the way up to 49.00 pre-market only to close down 4.55 to 39.68. A major reversal on that stock today, to say the least. Goldman Sachs (GS) lost 2.47 to 161.31, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG) 3.85 to 241.15, Apple Inc. (AAPL) 3.90 to 349.31, and Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) 3.85 to 169.44. Other point-plus losers included China MediaExpress Holdings, Inc. (CCME) down 1.84 to 12.24, Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. (BWLD) 1.25 to 51.74, IDT Corporation (IDT) 1.01 to 25.02, InterDigital, Inc. (IDCC) 1.12 to 46.49, and Whole Foods Market, Inc. (WFMI) 1.94 to 56.62.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, after a firm opening it was a rout for the rest of the day, as the indices stair-stepped their way lower, closing near the session lows after failing at key overhead resistance this morning. That was an extremely negative reversal for the market, and it could lead to lower levels.

We’ll see what the next day brings and whether we get a downside 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.