The markets were again sloppily higher today, with rather poor technicals, particularly on Nasdaq.  The day started out with a slight gap-up and then a sharp pullback that tested late yesterday afternoon's lows and was successful.  When that occurred, we had a very sharp rally right to secondary resistance.  They pulled back sharply from there, but held the lows, and then rallied strongly to new session highs, reaching the highs for the day just before lunch hour.  They pulled back through lunch hour into the earlier afternoon and then rallied again to retest the highs, but failed once again and then backed and filled into the close.

Net on the day, the Dow was up 59, the S&P 500 8.1, and the NDX around 9 3/4.  But the SOX closed not far off the lows for the day, down 1.14, about 8 points off the highs. So the tech sector really weighed on the markets today.

The technicals were about 3 to 2 positive on New York on advance-declines but only marginally positive on Nasdaq by less than 100 issues.  Up/down volume was 9 to 5 positive on New York with just under 1 1/2 billion traded.  Nasdaq traded just under 2 billion, but up/down volume was slightly to the downside today.

TheTechTrader.com board was mostly narrowly mixed, with just two issues up or down as much as a point.  PW Eagle (PWEI) touched a new all-time high at 30 late in the day and closed at 29.78, up 1.  Novavax (NVAX) got hammered on heavy volume, down 1.42. 

Other stocks of note, DXP Enterprises (DXPE) was up 84 cents and Dynamic Materials Corp. (BOOM) up 65 cents.  ,On the downside other losses of note were Neoware Systems (NWRE) off 44 cents, Evergreen Solar (ESLR) 51 cents, and Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) 50 cents.  So, there was some softness in the alternative energy group today for sure.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices took back most of yesterday's losses with a positive day, but failed to take out key overhead resistance which remains in the 1310-11 zone on the S&P and the 1720-22 area on the NDX.  That's the area we'll be watching tomorrow.  On the downside, support is at 1700-02 NDX and the 1294-5 zone the S&P.

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.