The markets closed very mixed and narrowly so.  But the day started out with a strong move up at the opening, a morning sell-off, another mid-morning to afternoon rally, and then another afternoon pullback, before a late firming brought them back to where they ended.

The Dow closed down 5 today, the S&P 500 2, the Nasdaq 100 up 3 1/3, and the SOX Index up 1.84.

But the technicals were mixed, with NYSE technicals lower than Nasdaq.  Advance-declines were 18 to 14 negative on New York but slightly positive on Nasdaq.  Up/volume was about 4 to 3 negative on New York with a total of just under 1.4 billion traded.  Nasdaq traded more than 1.9 billion with a nearly 2 to 1 positive ratio on up/down volume.

TheTechTrader.com board was mixed but there were some outstanding gainers today.  PW Eagle (PWEI) led the way, up 1.93, with Abaxis (ABAX) up 1.88 and Neoware Systems (NWRE) 1.50.  Those were the point-plus gainers today.

Other stocks of note on the plus side, bird-flu stocks were strong today, with Novavax (NVAX), one of our portfolio positions, up 95 cents on 15 1/2 million shares.  AVI Biopharma (AVII) was up 48 cents and BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (BCRX) up 37 cents.

Other stocks of note, DXP Enterprises (DXPE), one of our Charts of the Week, was up 65 cents today.  Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) was up 68 cents, and Rambus (RMBS) was up 87 cents.  Those were the leaders on plus side on our board today.

On the downside, loss leaders today were Rediff.com India (REDF), down 1.38 on some negative news from Google (GOOG).  Evergreen Solar (ESLR) continued its losing ways of the last couple days and gave back another 1.34 on very heavy volume today.  Dynamic Materials Corp. (BOOM) lost 51 cents, Radvision (RVSN) 51 cents and SVI 70 cents.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices continually had a tough time getting through the declining tops lines today, but are narrowing into an apex of a three-day wedge pattern and we should be getting some movement shortly.

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