The week started out on a sour note with the stock market indices down on the day. They came back in the afternoon twice, retested, and came back again, but still closed down on the day.

Net on the day, the Dow was down 74.70 at 12,078.98, the S&P 500 down 12.07 to 1251.78, and the Nasdaq 100 down 14.46 at 2341.32.

Advance-declines were 3 to 1 negative on the New York Stock Exchange, and 3 to 1 negative on Nasdaq as well. Up/down volume was 6 to 1 negative on New York, with total volume of only 700 million shares traded today. Nasdaq traded1.4 billion and had about an 11 to 3 negative plurality. Very light volume.

It was a definitively negative day today to start off the week.

TheTechTrader.com was mixed but mostly lower. The ultra-shorts, of course, were up today. The Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3X Shares (FAZ) gained 2.15 to 42.14, the VelocityShares Daily 2x VIX ST ETN (TVIX) 2.56 to 53.06, the Direxion Daily Small Cap Bear 3X Shares (TZA) 1.20 to 30.29, and the iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (VXX) 1.08 to 44.62.

Other gainers of note included Golar LNG Ltd. (GLNG), a swing trade of ours, which was up 1.46 to 42.36. Silicon Motion Technology Corp. (SIMO) advanced 1.40 to 19.88, ZAGG Incorporated (ZAGG) 41 cents to 12.19, and Cheniere Energy, Inc. (LNG) 78 cents to 11.34.

In addition, low-priced Netlist Inc. (NLST) was up 43 cents to 2.35, or 22.4%, but was trading substantially higher in the aftermarket. China Shen Zhou Mining & Resources, Inc. (SHZ) gained 46 cents to 2.63, Cray Inc. (CRAY) added 47 cents to 6.02, and VeriFone Systems, Inc (PAY) 3.65 to 44.44.

NetSuite Inc. (N) was up 2.17 to 43.93, Fusion-io Inc. (FIO) up 1.50 to 34.90, BroadSoft, Inc. (BSFT) 1.89 to 40.05, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (JAZZ) 1.52 to 38.30, and Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ALXN) 2.56 to 66.81.

On the downside, Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) lost 2.03 to 85.72, Universal Display Corp. (PANL) 1.82 to 50.77, Goldman Sachs (GS) 2.37 to 99.29, First Solar, Inc. (FSLR) 1.44 to 44.65. and Apple Inc. (AAPL) 5.36 to 379.26.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were down early and snapped back sharply with the Nasdaq 100 testing early highs, but the S&P 500 got no where near that, and then they both rolled over. They tested support, bounced mid-afternoon, came back down and retested, making new lows on the S&P 500, but not on the NDX, and then bounced in the last half hour.

Still, it was a sloppy, down session, with losses across the board.

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