The stock market indices, despite a big gap down at the opening and sharply lower levels by midmorning, managed to scrap their way back with a big move in the morning and late afternoon in a very nice comeback. Nonetheless, they still closed down on the day.

Net on the day, the Dow was down 62.29 at 12,657.20, about 100 points off the low. The S&P 500 fell 9.42 at 1343.80, 10 points off its low, and the Nasdaq 100 lost 7.00 at 2405.89.

Advance-declines were 21 to 9 negative on the New York Stock Exchange and 2 to 1 negative on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was sharply negative by a wide margin on New York, and Nasdaq had a 2 1/2 to 1 negative volume ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board was mixed, but there were quite a few big gainers today. Leading the way again today after being the leader several times this week was Coffee Holding Co. Inc. (JVA) up 4.40 to 26.75, or nearly 20%. VirnetX Holding Corp (VHC) was up 2.90 to 38.89, and SodaStream International Ltd. (SODA) 3.81 to 75.68.

Among other gainers of note, Arch Chemicals Inc. (ARJ) jumped 4.27 to 42.17. Western Refining Inc. (WNR), a recent swing trade, rose 1.06 to 20.61. LinkedIn Corporation Class A Co (LNKD) had a big day today, up 5.62 to 99.60, reaching as high as 101.50. WD-40 Company (WDFC) gained 2.75 to 44.43, and Youku.com Inc (YOKU) 1.74 to 38.59.

In addition, Pharmacyclics Inc. (PCYC) closed up 99 cents to 11.54, GSV Capital Corp (GSVC) 1.50 to 16.20, Genetic Technologies Ltd. (GENE) 83 cents to 8.78, BioSante Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (BPAX) 42 cents to 3.60, Hansen Medical, Inc. (HNSN) 46 cents to 4.59, and Golar LNG Ltd. (GLNG), one of our favorite stocks, was up 1.02 to 38.98.

Ultra-short ETFs had a good day today. The Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3X Shares (FAZ) was up 1.41 to 43.05, and ProShares UltraShort DJ-UBS Crude Oil (SCO) up 1.93 to 47.18.

Large-cap gainers included Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), up 1.54 to 218.28, and Apple Inc. (AAPL), up 2.51 to 359.71.

On the downside, the only point-plus loser on our board was Cree Inc. (CREE), one of our “Boxer Shorts,” down another 1.25 to 32.23.

Fractional losers included Molycorp, Inc. (MCP) down 84 cents to 56.55, MAKO Surgical Corp. (MAKO) 57 cents to 32.75, Sequans Communications S.A. Ame (SQNS) 45 cents to 16.13, Tesla Motors, Inc. (TSLA) 92 cents to 28.81, and NXP Semiconductors NV (NXPI) 47 cents to 26.07.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices had a big gap down at the opening on negative news, followed by a sharp bounce and then sharply lower levels after that. They did hold secondary support and managed to snap back to take back a big chunk of the losses and close way off the lows.

We’ll see what that means on Monday as we may have hit a short-term pop here. We’ll see if we get any downside follow-through here.

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