The stock market indices had a very mixed session at the close, although the technicals were positive at the end of the day. The day started out much better, with a gap up, a 5-wave advance that took them to new highs for the rally, the Nasdaq 100 reaching over 2500 to 2504, and the S&P 500 reaching up to 1329. But the SPX did not get near the 1330.50 level that it reached yesterday, and that resulted in a very sharp slide to retest the lows on the NDX. That was successful, despite the fact that the S&P 500 made lower lows by midday. They then stair-stepped their way higher in an orderly fashion, only to back off in the last 15 minutes to end mixed on the day.

Net on the day, the Dow was down 11.05 at 12,705.41, 36 points off the high. The S&P 500 was up 1.45 to 1325.54, 4 points off its high, and the Nasdaq 100 up 7.65 at 2495.83, 9 points off its high.

Advance-declines were 17 to 13 positive on the New York Stock Exchange, and 3 to 2 positive on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 4 to 3 positive on New York, with total volume of just under 800 million shares traded today. Nasdaq traded about 1.83 billion shares and had a 2 to 1 positive volume ratio.

So, Nasdaq had a better day overall.

TheTechTrader.com board, as a result, was mixed, but mostly higher. There were a lot of stocks that we traded and picked today that did great. Leading the way, GMX Resources Inc. (GMXR) was up 60 cents to 1.54, or 64%, on 13 million shares. MediciNova, Inc. (MNOV) rose 57 cents to 2.46, or 32%, Vringo, Inc. Common Stock (VRNG) was 35 cents to 1.70, or 26%. Central European Distribution Corp. (CEDC) gained 82 cents to 5.28, or 18%, with Clean Diesel Technologies Inc. (CDTI) up 39 cents to 3.54, or 12%, and Rare Element Resources Ltd. (REE) ahead by 72 cents to 7.67.

In addition, Zynga Inc. (ZNGA) advanced 1.78 to 12.39, or 17%; RealD Inc. (RLD) 1.57 to 11.31, or 16%; Open Text Corporation (OTEX) 7.73 to 60.35, or 14.7%; and Gap, Inc. (GPS) 2.07 to 21.52, or 10.6%. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (GMCR) was up 12.79 to 66.42, or 24%, on 24 million shares, after a stellar earnings report.

Entropic Communications, Inc. (ENTR), a new swing trade of ours, jumped 95 cents to 7.00, and BroadVision, Inc. (BVSN) was up 3.35 to 31.60.

Junior biotechs had an excellent day. Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (AMLN) was up 2.23 to 17.76 on 14 million, Affymax, Inc. (AFFY) up 1.25 to 10.15 on 3 1/2 million shares, Discovery Laboratories, Inc. (DSCO) 32 cents to 2.55, Dynavax Technologies Corporation (DVAX) 40 cents to 4.08, Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ACHN) 1.28 to 12.38, and KV Pharmaceutical Co. (KV-A) 22 cents to 2.39.

Seabridge Gold, Inc. (SA) stood out in the gold sector, up 2.64 to 22.80.

Large gainers of note included Liquidity Services, Inc. (LQDT) up 3.26 to 39.36, Cabot Corp (CBT) 3.38 to 41.07, Concur Technologies, Inc. (CNQR) 4.70 to 58.74, Core Laboratories N.V. (CLB) 8.70 to 115.55, Big Lots, Inc. (BIG) 3.27 to 42.82, Youku.com Inc (YOKU) 1.81 to 24.72, and Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (CDNS) 84 cents to 11.64.

On the downside, Apple Inc. (AAPL) was down 1.07 to 455.12, and International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) lost 1.09 to 191.53. Some of the large blue chips stalled today.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were up sharply in the morning, down sharply by midday, and rallied back to take back all the losses on the NDX and S&P 500 and move them to the plus column, but not so on the Dow. They closed mixed on the session, with positive technicals

We’ll see if today was more than a consolidation, or perhaps a topping pattern very shortly.

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