The indices had an ugly afternoon and took back most of the profits made earlier in the day.  Only the Dow managed to close ahead on the session.

The day started out with a strong rally after the first few minutes that took the indices to new rally highs.  But they pulled back mid-morning, and then the ensuring bounce, despite new highs on the S&P 500 and Dow at that point, failed to get confirmation from the NDX.  They then rolled over and sold off steadily and hard for the rest of the session, with the NDX dropping some 28 points in the last few hours and the S&P around 11.

Net on the day, the Dow was up just 25, about 70 points off the earlier high.  The S&P 500 was down nearly 2, around 12 points off the earlier high.  The NDX, however, was down 16.39, about 27 points off the earlier highs. 

So, there were negative reversals, particularly on Nasdaq and the S&P today.

The technicals managed to stay positive but just barely on New York by about 75 issues.  Nasdaq, however, had about 275 more decliners than advancers.  Up/down volume was a little more than 9 to 8 negative on New York with a total of 1.7 billion traded.  Nasdaq traded nearly 2.3 billion, with about a 12 to 11 positive ratio on up/down volume.

TheTechTrader.com board was mixed but mostly negative.  The outstanding gainers were Energy Conversion Devices (ENER), up 2 points, but that was some 2 1/2 points off the earlier high.

Other gainers included Dynamic Materials Corp. (BOOM), up 49 cents, and Syntax-Brillian (BRLC) up 39 cents.  The star of the day, however, was Akamai (AKAM), up 4 points on just under 16 million shares on excellent earnings, higher guidance, and upgrades from several firms.

The downside saw losses from Rediff.com India (REDF), down 5.71, nearly 8 points off yesterday's high.  Apple (AAPL) lost 3.86 more after breaking down from yesterday's key support level.

Other losses of note, Parlux Fragrances (PARL) was down 1.29 and Sify Ltd. (SIFY) off 1.62.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices failed to follow through to the upside for more than an hour or so, and then rolled over and are retesting support.   We'll find out soon whether they can hold support or head lower. 

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.