The stock market indices had a slightly positive session today as they worked their way back from early losses. The day started out with a move down, breaking support, and making lower lows within the first 45 minutes, down around 1268 on the S&P 500 and 2307 on the Nasdaq 100. They then rallied sharply mid to late morning, into the early afternoon, when they reached their session highs, with about an hour to go. The NDX actually went to new multi-session rally highs, but the S&P 500 was far from confirming, and they did back off into the close, but managed to bounce right near the end to close positive on the session.

Net on the day, the Dow was up just 20.01 at 12,418.35, or 80 points off the low. The S&P 500 was up .24 to 1277.30, or about 9 points off the low, and the Nasdaq 100 up 7.75 at 2329.71, or 22 points off its low.

Advance-declines did not manage to get back into the plus column, and were negative by 80 issues on the New York Stock Exchange, and by a sizable 3 to 2 margin on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was basically flat, with 372 million up and 358 million down on New York, on total volume of about 730 million shares traded today. Nasdaq traded 1.66 billion shares and had an 8 1/2 to 8 negative plurality.

TheTechTrader.com board, as a result, was narrowly mixed, although there were some big gainers today. One of the biggest gainers was Netflix, Inc. (NFLX), up 8.21 to 80.45. SodaStream International Ltd. (SODA) jumped 2.89 to 37.75, and Apple Inc. (AAPL) rose 2.21 to 413.44 on the introduction of their iPhone in China.

Among other gainers of note, LCA-Vision Inc. (LCAV), a stock that we traded today, gained 1.09 to 4.17, or 35%. Rare Element Resources Ltd. (REE) advanced 74 cents to 4.30, or 21%, on increased reserves in the rare-earth group. Complete Genomics, Inc. (GNOM) added 61 cents to 3.51, or 21%, and NetQin Mobile Inc. American Dep (NQ) 86 cents to 6.36, or 16%.

In addition, low-priced Dex One Corporation (DEXO), one of our swing trades, gained 21 cents to 1.92, or 12%, and Netlist Inc. (NLST), an old favorite of ours, was up 32 cents to 2.78, or 13%. Swing trade pick Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. (MHR) jumped 44 cents to 5.88, or 8%.

Flotek Industries Inc. (FTK), which had an excellent day today, was up 1.66 to 12.18, or 15%, on 6.4 million, and Tivo jumped 90 cents to 9.82, or 10%, on a licensing arrangement deal with AT&T. Goodrich Petroleum Corp. (GDP) was up 1.36 to 15.96. Lululemon Athletica Inc. (LULU), which we traded, was up 4.13 to 51.16. Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (JAZZ) jumped 2.20 to 40.79, Oasis Petroleum Inc. (OAS) 2.09 to 32.61, Liz Claiborne Inc. (LIZ) 80 cents to 9.41, IMAX Corporation (IMAX) 95 cents to 18.78, and NutriSystem Inc. (NTRI) 98 cents to 14.83.

On the downside, the only multiple-point losers were First Solar, Inc. (FSLR) down 1.09 to 34.70, the Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X Shares (FAS) down 1.00 to 68.25, and the VelocityShares Daily 2x VIX ST ETN (TVIX) 1.11 to 27.40.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, despite the fact that the indices were down sharply early on, they rallied back to close positive on the session in a steady rally from the mid-morning lows to the late afternoon highs. Only a late pullback prevented them from closing at the highs.

Let’s see what kind of follow-through we get tomorrow.

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