The market suffered a very steep sell-off.  They started out with a mixed opening, tried to firm early in the morning, got to the session highs within a half hour and rolled over.  When they took out support just before lunch, the market plunged, particularly on Nasdaq, dropping from 1712 to 1685 inside of a couple hours, taking it through several layers off support, including key support around 1700.  The S&P 500 broke last week's double-bottom in the process, but the indices rallied over the last 90 minutes or so and snapped back from much steeper losses to retest resistance and closed right there.

The Dow was down a little less than 64, the S&P 500 3 3/4, the Nasdaq 100 17 3/4, and the SOX Semiconductor Index down 7 1/2 points.

The technicals were 3 to 2 negative on advance-declines on New York and a like amount on Nasdaq.  Up/down volume was only 7 to 5 negative on New York but 3 to 1 negative on Nasdaq.  Total volume on New York was about 1 1/4 billion and Nasdaq about 1 3/4 billion.

TheTechTrader.com board was active and mostly higher.  The leaders by far today were Pacific Ethanol (PEIX), up 4.61 on 6 3/4 million shares, and Energy Conversion Devices (ENER), closing near 51, up 3.65 on 2 3/4 million.  Energy and alternative energy stocks, with the price of oil back over $70, were very hot today.

Low-priced Blue Dolphin Energy (BDCO) jumped 1.80 on 12 1/2 million shares, a 29% advance today, and low-priced Magellan Petroleum (MPET) jumped 30%, up 60 cents.

One of our recent Charts of the Week, Chindex (CHDX), advanced 1.40, or 15%, breaking out to a new 16-month high.  Aspreva Pharmaceuticals (ASPV), following up on last week's strong gain, was up another 1.52.  PW Eagle (PWEI) advanced 1, closing near 30.

Among our other stocks, Dynamic Materials Corp. (BOOM) was up 55 cents, LMI Aerospace (LMIA) up 48 cents, and OraLabs (OLAB) advanced another 89 cents on nearly 1.9 million.  Rediff.com India (REDF) snapped back 50 cents, with Stereotaxis (STXS) up 33 cents.

On the downside, Broadcom (BRCM) gave back 1.43 and that hurt the SOX Index.   Neoware Systems (NWRE) lost 72 cents, DXP Enterprises (DXPE) 90 cents, and Xyratex (XRTX) 83 cents.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, damage was done technically today as the indices failed in this morning's rally right at moving average resistance on the hourly charts and rolled over hard.  They took out the neckline on a head-and-shoulders top type formation on the NDX, and failed at price and moving average resistance on the S&P. 

We'll see if today's snapback rally was nothing more than short covering before resuming the sell-off, or whether we may have put in an important low.  Overhead resistance at 1700 and 1705 NDX, as well as 1287 and 1292 S&P, will be closely watched.

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.