The week started off with another good trading day, although it was a mixed session for the stock market indices. They popped a little bit at the opening, backed off right away, held support and bounced, but rolled over to the biggest sell-off of the day until about 11:00. The session lows took the Nasdaq 100 down to 2342 and the S&P 500 to 1274 and change. The indices worked their way solidly higher in a 5-wave advance for the next several hours, taking the NDX from 2342 to 2358, and the S&P 500 from 1274 1/2 to 1282. On three occasions during the day, the S&P 500 tested and backed off 1282, which was the same thing that happened on Friday. That makes six occasions in the last three sessions.

While the S&P 500 failed to confirm, the NDX made lower highs for the remainder of the session. Net on the day, the Dow was up 32.77 at 12,392.69, the S&P 500 up 2.89 to 1280.70, and the Nasdaq 100 down 5.52 at 2350.65 as many of the large-cap stocks got slammed. Google Inc. (GOOG), for example, lost 27.09 to 622.94, or 4.2%, a definite rollover after making new highs last week. Apple (AAPL) dropped back from 427.75, a new all-time high, to close at 421.73, down on the day.

TheTechTrader.com board, as a result, was mixed. However, the star for the day was Inhibitex Inc. (INHX), which was acquired by Bristol Myers, up 13.83 to 23.70, or 140%, on 35.5 million shares. Other stocks that did very well included Netflix, Inc. (NFLX), which jumped 11.89 to 98.18, on 30.4 million shares. Questcor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (QCOR) rose 3.19 to 42.14, Rare Element Resources Ltd. (REE) 1.02 to 6.78, and MAKO Surgical Corp. (MAKO) 2.29 to 31.07.

Other big gainers today were many biotechs, including Dendreon Corp. (DNDN) up another 96 cents to 13.31, Idenix Pharmaceuticals Inc. (IDIX) 2.61 to 9.66, Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ACHN) 1.80 to 9.72, VIVUS Inc. (VVUS) 1.49 to 11.65, Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (VRTX) 1.63 to 35.68, InterMune Inc. (ITMN) 1.59 to 16.64, and Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (JAZZ) 2.81 to 48.20.

Universal Display Corp. (PANL) advanced 1.76 to 38.60. SolarWinds, Inc. (SWI) snapped back another 1.02 to 28.55, Goldman Sachs (GS) was up 1.27 to 94.69, First Solar, Inc. (FSLR) gained 1.57 to 36.84, and Golar LNG Ltd. (GLNG) added 1.11 to 46.55, reaching its all-time new high today at 46.64.

Other stocks of note on the long side included LCA-Vision Inc. (LCAV) up 1.40 to 5.94, or 31%; BroadVision, Inc. (BVSN) 2.24 to 14.95, or 17.6%; NetQin Mobile Inc. American Dep (NQ) 73 cents to 6.96, or 11.7%, RAM Energy Resources, Inc. (RAM), one of our swing trades, 33 cents to 3.15, or 11.7%; and Houston American Energy Corp. (HUSA) 1.35 to 14.13.

Also, Acuity Brands, Inc. (AYI) was up 4.62 to 54.94, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (GMCR) up 3.09 to 46.26 on short covering, and Medivation, Inc. (MDVN) 3.70 to 52.80.

On the downside, nothing was down more than a point other than SodaStream International Ltd. (SODA), which had a very disappointing day, down 2.16 to 36.70.

Everything else on our board was up or down only fractionally.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were down early, rallied back in the afternoon, and then sold off in the last half hour on Nasdaq 100, and held very nicely on the S&P 500, just 1 1/2 points from its high.

We’ll see what that means, and what the rest of the market can do tomorrow.

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