The week started off with a soft session, but many of the stocks we traded today had a good session. That likely occurred because the stock market indices opened with big gaps down and then rallied sharply.

The opening gap on the Nasdaq 100 took the index from about 2429 down to 2406 at one point before rallying back sharply to new highs at 2437. The S&P 500 dropped from 1345 down to 1331 at the opening, as the indices responded to the gridlock on the debt ceiling, and then rallied back sharply to get up to 1344. It didn’t quite get back to the early high. That negative divergence caused a rollover late in the session as the S&P 500 was unable to confirm NDX new highs. It rolled over from 1344 to 1337, taking the NDX from 2437 down to 2422. The indices did try to bounce in the last 45 minutes or so.

Net on the day, the Dow was down 88.36 at 12,592.80, the S&P 500 down 7.59 at 1337.43, and the Nasdaq 100 down 5.35 at 2424.15.

Advance-declines were 4 to 1 negative New York Stock Exchange, and 3 1/2 to 1 negative on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was a little less than 4 to 1 negative on New York with total volume a light 750 million. Nasdaq traded 1.5 billion and had a little worse than a 2 to 1 negative volume ratio.

TheTechTrader.com was mostly negative, but we traded quite a few big winners today. Datalink Corp. (DTLK) jumped 95 cents to 10.30, or 10%. Seven Arts Pictures plc (SAPX) soared 3.15 to 4.49, a 235% gain. Atrinsic, Inc. (ATRN) jumped 1.43 to 4.69, or 44%, with E*TRADE Financial Corporation (ETFC) up 88 cents to 16.52 and Quepasa Corp. (QPSA) 48 cents to 9.81.

Two low-priced Irish banks had big sessions today. The Governor and Company of The Bank of Ireland (IRE) jumped 38 cents to 1.54, or 33%, and Allied Irish Banks plc (AIB) gained 27 cents to 2.07, or 15%.

Other stocks of note included Akeena Solar, Inc. (WEST) up 29 cents to 1.54, or 23%. Wowjoint Holdings Limited (BWOW) rose 83 cents to 3.51, or 31%, and China Advanced Construction Materials Group, Inc. (CADC) 28 cents to 2.30, or 14%. S Wind-up Corp. (SGNT) advanced 2.21 to 25.83 and Conns Inc. (CONN) 76 cents to 9.74.

In addition, Apple Inc. (AAPL) was up 5.20 to 398.50 tagging 400 for the first time. Goldman Sachs (GS) rose 1.36 to 136.85, which was 3 points off its low in a nice reversal today.

Among the ultra-short ETFs, the Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3X Shares (FAZ) was up 1.01 to 44.81, and the Direxion Daily Small Cap Bear 3X Shares (TZA) 1.11 to 33.46.

On the downside, point-plus losers included VirnetX Holding Corp (VHC) down 1.60 to 34.07, Youku.com Inc (YOKU) 1.00 to 33.10, ServiceSource International, In (SREV) 1.53 to 17.00, International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) 1.48 to 183.70, InterDigital, Inc. (IDCC) 1.66 to 71.30, and Global Crossing Ltd. (GLBC) 1.25 to 37.21.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices gapped down sharply, rallied back just as sharply to new highs on the NDX, but rolled over in the afternoon and gave back about half the gains. So, we started out the week on a negative note.

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