The market ended with an up-day today, but I would call it a disappointing up-session in that the indices gave up a big chunk of what they had gained earlier in the session.

The day started out with a gap-up, with futures strong before the opening.  The indices ran up strongly into the first hour or so.  They consolidated, backed and filled for the next couple hours through the middle of lunch hour, and then they started to roll over and had a strong three-wave decline which took them to new session lows with about an hour to go.  Then they snapped back and salvaged some of the gains for the day.

Net on the day, the Dow was up 28, but that was 67 points off the earlier high.  The S&P 500 was up 3.18, but about 7 points off the high.  The Nasdaq 100 was 12 points off the high, but still managed to gain 5 ½ today.  The SOX Semiconductor Index was down 1.62 and pressured Nasdaq for most of the session.

The technicals, however, managed to end solidly in the plus column by more than 3 to 2 on New York and about 3 to 2 on Nasdaq.  Up/down volume was nearly 2 to 1 positive on New York with about 1.5 billion.  Nasdaq traded about 1.6 billion with about a 3 to 2 positive ratio.

Not surprisingly, TheTechTrader.com board was nearly all higher today, led by gains from some low-priced issues.  China Energy Savings (CESV) at 8.84 was up 1.49 on 3 1/3 million, and Hauppauge Digital (HAUP) exploded for 1.36 on 2 million shares, a strong percentage gain.

Other stocks of note, Neoware Systems (NWRE) gained 81 cents, BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (BCRX) 44 cents, Alvarion (ALVR) 46 cents, Palm Inc. (PALM) up 1, PW Eagle (PWEI) up 60 cents, Rediff.com India (REDF) 50 cents, and low-priced SIFY Ltd. (SIFY) 68 cents today.  Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) also gained 53 cents.

The only loser on my board of any consequence was NeoMagic (NMGC), which after a strong rally earlier in the week continued to give it back, down 45 cents today.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices ran up to overhead resistance and backed off, rather correctively and orderly on the Nasdaq 100 but a bit more steeply on the S&P.  Late in the session support was tested and successfully so.

But the indices continued to refuse to follow-through either way, making it difficult to call this market.

We'll see if the year-end positive tendencies can influence the market higher, or whether we've seen the end of this rally earlier this week and are headed lower. That's the question right now.

Good trading!

Harry Boxer is a technical consultant to many Wall Street hedge funds and large institutional traders, and author of TheTechTrader.com, a real-time diary of his day, swing and intermediate-term trades. For more of Harry Boxer, sign up for a FREE 15-day trial to his Real-Time Technical Trading Diary, or sign up for a Free 30-Day Trial to his Top Charts of the Week service.