Today was a consolidation day ahead of the FOMC announcement tomorrow.  The day started out with a move up, but didn't get too far, and pulled down in a very consolidative, corrective-looking manner.  I anticipated the market moving higher as a result and it did, but only nominal new highs were made on a couple occasions that each time failed to follow-through.  They sold off in the afternoon before bouncing back a bit late in the session, bringing some of the indices back into the plus column, but basically ended mixed on the day.

The Dow was down 7 1/4, the S&P was up 1 1/2, the Nasdaq 100 up 2 1/3, and the SOX index down nearly 4.  That certainly pressured Nasdaq today.

Advance-declines were 17 to 15 on New York and 16 to 14 negative on Nasdaq.  The up/down volume was 8 to 7 positive on New York and about 11 to 7 positive on Nasdaq.

Total volume on New York was a little less than 1 2/3 billion and about a 1.9 billion on Nasdaq.

TheTechTrader.com board was mostly higher.  Alternative energy stocks led the gainers, in anticipation of a discussion by President Bush in his state of the Union message on alternative energy.

The leader by far was Energy Conversion Devices (ENER), which despite a dip earlier in the day, roared back 6 points off its session low, closing up 3.85 on 3 1/2 million shares. 

DayStar Technologies (DSTI) was up 1.57.  Evergreen Solar (ESLR) to a new five-year high gained 1.18.  Distributed Energy Systems (DESC) was up 50 cents.  All of these were on strong volume.  Pacific Ethanol (PEIX) advanced 2.47 today on nearly 2 million shares.

Other stocks of note, Rediff.com India (REDF) bounced back sharply, up l.67 on 2 1/2 million shares and reached very near its multi-year highs before backing off late in the session.  Low-priced Misonix (MSON), on FDA approval of a new device, jumped 2.14 on 2.3 million shares, a very strong percentage gain for that low-priced stock.

Astea International (ATEA) snapped back 1.12.  Trade Station (TRAD), one of our Charts of the Week, was up 64 cents.  PW Eagle (PWEI) gained 66 cents.  BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (BCRX) was up 88 cents and Dynamic Materials Corp. (BOOM) 44 cents, both current portfolio positions.

On the downside, Red Robin Group (RRGB), one of our recent Boxer Shorts, dropped 1.57.  Broadcom (BRCM) gave back 1.67 from last week's big gains, and Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) dropped 1.13.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, not much progress was made today, as the indices basically marked time ahead of the FOMC meeting.  We'll see what affect that meeting has on stocks tomorrow. There is a strong level of overhead resistance at the 1288 level on the S&P going back the last several weeks that may be very formidable.  Current short-term resistance on the NDX is in the 1720-23 zone and beyond that 1730. 

We'll find out how formidable resistance is after tomorrow's Fed announcement.

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.