The stock market indices were flat today, but early on came on strong and made new rally highs as the Nasdaq 100 reached up toward the 2297-98 area, and the S&P 500 jumped up toward 1269, achieving the 1268 target for today. They then pulled back very sharply, did about a 50% retracement quickly, and then clawed their way back over the next several hours to make new highs on the NDX. However, that was not confirmed on the S&P 500, resulting in a late rollover.

Net on the day, the Dow, which had gotten up to 12,328, closed at 12,291.35, down 2.65. The S&P 500, which opened at 1265.33 and reached 1269, closed at 1265.43, up a slight 0.10, about as narrow of a gain that it could get. The Nasdaq 100 went from a high of about 2302 down to 2292, closing at 2293.27, up 5.55 today.

So, there was very little movement on the indices today.

Advance-declines were 1500 up and 1470 down on the New York Stock Exchange, and negative by just 60 issues on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 27 to 20 negative on New York, with total volume of 475 million shares traded today. Nasdaq had about a 5 to 4 positive volume ratio, trading 935 million shares.

TheTechTrader.com board was mostly narrowly mixed, but there were some large gainers today. China Ming Yang Wind Power Group Limited (MY) was up 58 cents to 2.31, or 33 1/2%; Endeavour International Corporation (END) up 1.54 to 7.94, or 24 1/2%; Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. (MHR) 80 cents to 5.47, or 17%; Nanosphere, Inc. (NSPH) 26 cents to 1.53, or 20 1/2%; Samson Oil & Gas Limited (SSN) 22 cents to 2.20, or 11.11%; Clearfield, Inc. (CLFD) 79 cents to 7.34, or 12%; HomeAway, Inc. (AWAY) 2.22 to 22.12, or 11%; and Frontline Ltd. (FRO) 47 cents to 4.67, or 11%.

RAM Energy Resources, Inc. (RAM) jumped 23 cents to 2.70, Delcath Systems, Inc. (DCTH) 20 cents to 3.05, and Exelixis, Inc. (EXEL) 32 cents to 4.96.

One of our old favorites, Kandi Technologies, Corp (KNDI), was up 49 cents to 4.04, or 14%, on 639,000 shares on a breakout today.

Gaming shares rocketed higher as the U.S. Department of Justice adopted a new stance toward online gaming. Scientific Games Corporation (SGMS) was up 1.26 to 9.46, or 15%, and Boyd Gaming Corp. (BYD) up 68 cents to 7.63, or nearly 10% today.

Other gainers of note included Mead Johnson Nutrition Company (MJN), up 3.79 to 69.08 on denial of prior liability. Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ARIA) reached new multi-week highs, up 76 cents to 12.50. Ebix Inc. (EBIX) advanced 1.18 to 22.45, Rex Energy Corporation (REXX) 74 cents to 15.60 in a strong junior oil sector, Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. (CALM) 1.52 to 35.77, Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ALXN) 2.46 to 71.55, and Westport Innovations Inc. (WPRT), one of our swing trades, up 90 cents to 33.65 and continuing to act well.

Also, Apple Inc. (AAPL) was up 3.20 to 406.53, Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ONXX) 1.05 to 44.65, Medivation, Inc. (MDVN) 1.24 to 46.88, and Hi Tech Pharmacal Co. Inc. (HITK) 1.14 to 39.29, closing out the gainers today.

On the downside, First Solar, Inc. (FSLR) fell 1.76 to 32.94, as the solar energy group was very weak today. Goldman Sachs (GS) was lagging behind, down 1.89 to 91.90. Molycorp, Inc. (MCP) lost 1.04 to 28.00 even, Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) 2.02 to 70.60, and VirnetX Holding Corp (VHC), which was up earlier to 29.45, reversed in the afternoon and rolled over, closing at 26.30, down 1.05.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were up early, pulled back mid-morning to retest, and then came on in the afternoon to new session highs on the NDX, but failed to confirm on the S&P 500. That resulted in a late rollover that brought the indices back to nearly flat with the Dow down just 2.65, and the S&P 500 up 10 cents on the day.

Let’s see how the rest of the week goes.

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