The stock market indices moved down early, and then rallied midday, but at the end of the day dipped into negative territory on the blue chips, although the Nasdaq 100 was up today, with Apple Inc. (AAPL) particularly strong.

The day started out with a dip to the downside. They rallied sharply in the morning, and then they reached their peak on the S&P 500 just before noon. They dipped in the early afternoon, and snapped back into new highs for the day on the NDX, but when that was not equaled by the S&P 500, they backed off. They tried to bounce in the last half hour, but pulled back in the last 15 minutes to close down on the Dow and S&P 500, but not so on the NDX.

Net on the day, the Dow was down 55.78 at 12,359.92, or 4 points off its high, and the S&P 500 down 3.25 to 1277.81, or 8 points off its high. The Nasdaq 100, which generally had a 22-point range all day, was up 7.19 at 2356.17, or about 6 points off its high.

Advance-declines were 16 to 14 negative on the New York Stock Exchange, and 13 to 11 negative on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 3 to 2 negative on New York, with total volume of 700 million shares traded today. Nasdaq traded about 1.7 billion shares and had a 3 to 2 positive volume ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board, as a result, was mixed, but there were some gainers. Leading the way on the upside, Apple Inc. (AAPL) advanced 4.37 to 422.40, pushing not far from its all-time high. Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) was up 6.99 to 86.29, VirnetX Holding Corp (VHC) 2.01 to 26.73, and low-priced BioDelivery Sciences International (BDSI), up 1.01 to 1.85, or 120%, on positive drug news.

In addition, Hauppauge Digital, Inc. (HAUP) jumped 24 cents to 1.13, or 27%; Rare Element Resources Ltd. (REE) 94 cents to 5.76, or 18%, on 1.7 million shares; Saba Software, Inc. (SABA) 1.16 to 8.57, or 16%; Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc. (KKD) 70 cents to 7.12, or 11%; and Exide Technologies (XIDE) 32 cents to 3.13, or 11%;

Dendreon Corp. (DNDN) was an outstanding stock today, up 1.73 to 12.35, or 16%, on 33 million shares.

Other gainers of note included Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (JAZZ), up 3.93 to 45.39, Weight Watchers International, Inc. (WTW) up 5.48 to 68.00 even, Greenbrier Companies, Inc. (GBX) 1.98 to 25.87, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (REGN) 4.85 to 65.79, DeVry Inc. Common Stock (DV) 2.35 to 41.40, Apollo Group Inc. (APOL) 2.92 to 56.64, Universal Display Corp. (PANL) 2.13 to 36.85, Medivation, Inc. (MDVN) 2.20 to 49.10, and Hi Tech Pharmacal Co. Inc. (HITK) 1.25 to 42.24.

On the downside, Nu Skin Enterprises Inc. (NUS) gave back 1.30 to 46.94. International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) was off 2.12 to 182.54, and Goldman Sachs (GS) dropped 1.15 to 93.42.

Those were the only point-plus losers on our board today.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were down sharply in the morning, especially on the S&P 500. They snapped back just as sharply to take back all of the loses, and then some on the Nasdaq 100, but not on the S&P 500. They backed and filled in the afternoon, and closed mixed on the session.

It wasn’t a bad week at all. We’ll see how it goes next week.

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