The indices did some important testing today and survived. The day started out with a move down.  They rebounded right back to near the opening prices and then pulled back again in an afternoon slide that saw higher lows made.  Mid-afternoon they turned sharply higher, taking out a couple of minor layers of resistance, testing key resistance at the 1480 level on the NDX and the 1175 area on the S&P 500. But they pulled back at the close and paired back the gains.

At the end of the day, the Dow was up a little less than 17, the S&P was up about 3 1/4, the Nasdaq 100 up about 7 1/3, and the Composite about 6 1/4.  But the SOX Semiconductor Index was down 1.80 and put a damper on Nasdaq.

The technicals were flat with only 80 more advancers on New York, but there were some 280 more decliners on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was dead-even flat on New York with about 1.6 billon traded. Nasdaq also traded about 1.6 billion, with about a little less than an 8 to 7 advantage.

TheTechTrader.com board was active. There were three or four outstanding issues, led by some of the junior energy stocks, including ABLE Energy (ABLE) up 1.03 and Georesources (GEOI) up 89 cents on heavy volume. Alternative energy stocks did well, with Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) up 93 cents and Evergreen Solar (ESLR) up 23 cents.

Other stocks of note: Novatel (NGPS) up 1.11 and, on some news, Altair Nanotech (ALTI) up 51 cents .

On the downside, losers were CryptoLogic (CRYP) down 80 cents, Medicore (MDKI) down 36 cents and World Poker Tour (WPTE) down 44 cents.

Other than that, it was a fairly mixed session. The indices, after breaking out of minor resistance and testing overhead resistance, backed off late in the session. We'll see if we can punch it through and take out additional formidable overhead resistance from Friday's morning highs at around the 1493-1495 zone on the Nasdaq 100, and the 1188-1190 zone on the S&P 500. Those are the areas we'll be keeping an eye on.

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.