The stock market indices failed to follow-through on the downside today, and instead snapped back. From the get-go they rallied to overhead resistance to 2340 on the Nasdaq 100 and 1314-15 area on the S&P 500. They then pulled back twice over the course of the next couple hours to test support, but did so successfully. They rallied back twice, but couldn’t break out as well. In the last 30-40 minutes they backed off to pare back some of the gains and still close positive on the session, but just barely so.

Net on the day, the Dow closed up 8.78 at 12,066.80. The S&P 500 was up 2.11 at 1308.44, about 6 points off its high. The Nasdaq 100 gained 11.51 at 2326.77, 14 points off its high.

Advance-declines managed to close nearly 2 to 1 positive on the New York Stock Exchange, but just 14 to 11 positive on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was about 3 to 2 positive on New York with total volume just at 1 billion. Nasdaq traded more than 1.9 billion, and had about 11 to 8 positive volume ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board had quite a few solid gainers today. Leading the way was low-priced Lucas Energy, Inc. (LEI) up 1.59 to 3.68, a gain of over 75% today. Silicon Image Inc. (SIMG) rose 1.72 to 9.69 on news of inclusion of its products in the new Apple iPad. Peet's Coffee & Tea Inc. (PEET) gained 3.12 to 45.99, VeriFone Systems, Inc. (PAY) 3.84 to 48.45, McDermott International Inc. (MDR) 2.10 to 24.49, and B&G Foods, Inc. (BGS), a day trade of ours, up 2.94 to 17.96. Shanda Games Limited (GAME) closed up 1.08 to 6.82.

In the strong junior oil sector, Harvest Natural Resources Inc. (HNR) was up 1.57 to 16.31, Blue Dolphin Energy Company (BDCO) 1.29 to 8.30, and Royale Energy Inc. (ROYL) 1.17 to 7.83, with several other strong oil stocks on our board today.

In addition, Ancestry.com Inc. (ACOM) advanced 2.33 to 33.66, CAI International Inc. (CAP) 3.23 to 23.53, IDT Corporation (IDT) 1.34 to 26.36, MELA Sciences, Inc. (MELA) 52 cents to 3.07, LML Payment Systems Inc. (LMLP) 89 cents to 5.75, Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) 52 cents to 5.24, and Accelr8 Technology Corp. (AXK) 67 cents to 3.62.

Cytori Therapeutics, Inc. (CYTX) jumped 52 cents to 6.13, and Edgewater Technology Inc. (EDGW) 87 cents to 3.19, a big percentage gainer, while Hypercom Corp. (HYC) added 89 cents to 10.69, Kandi Technologies Corp (KNDI) 51 cents to 4.07, and KV Pharmaceutical Co. (KV-A) 66 cents to 9.25.

Large-cap gainers included Apple Inc. (AAPL) up 2.81 to 352.12, Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) 2.58 to 172.02, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG) 1.67 to 242.82, SodaStream International Ltd. (SODA) 1.01 to 40.69, Travelzoo Inc. (TZOO) 1.70 to 41.10, and Whole Foods Market, Inc. (WFMI) 1.26 to 57.88.

On the downside, no stocks on our board lost as much as a point today.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were up in the morning and then pulled back by midday, jumped again early afternoon and pulled back mid-afternoon, and then rallied back late in the session before pulling back in the last hour.

Basically, a back and forth consolidation day. We'll have to see whether than can be construed positive or negative for the indices.

The late pullback didn't do the indices any good, but we'll have to see how it goes tomorrow.

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