The markets had a mixed session with the blue chips up and Nasdaq down today. 

The day started out with a quick move lower that held initial trendlines and moving averages intraday.  They then had a strong rally that took the indices to the highs for the session and the highs for this rally, followed by an equally sharp decline that severely tested yesterday afternoon's lows but held.  For the rest of the session through the afternoon and into the close, the market basically moved in a narrow range in a consolidative and orderly manner, which could be a precursor to a move as early as tomorrow or perhaps early next week.

Net on the day, the Dow was up 64, the S&P 500 up 1.53, but the NDX was down more than 5 despite the fact that the SOX Semiconductor Index was up 2.83, although that was some 6 points off the high.

The technicals were poor for most of the session, even at the highs, and closed negatively for the most part. Advance-declines were about 180 issues lower on New York and 350 issues negative on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 4 to 3 negative on Nasdaq with 2.1 billion traded, and about 5 to 4 positive on New York on a total there of 1 3/4 billion traded. 

TheTechTrader.com board was very mixed, with several point-plus gainers and losers.  On the plus side, the top percentage gainer, up about 84% today, was Avici Systems (AVCI), up 3.67 to 8.02 on 10 3/4 million shares.  We traded that several times today.  It had a very strong revenue and earnings report, which apparently surprised Wall Street.

Other stocks of note, Citrix Systems (CTXS), was up 3.07 to 41.95 on 8 1/2 million on terrific earnings and several upgrades.  Travelzoo (TZOO)  closed up nearly another 3 points on 2 1/2 million shares. 

Other stocks included China Automotive (CAAS), which, after a multi-week decline, jumped 1.34 today and broke out of its downtrend.  In addition, Sierra Wireless (SWIR) popped to a new multi-year high, closing up 37 cents.  PW Eagle (PWEI) advanced 41 cents, Optelecom-NKF (OPTC) 50 cents and LMI Aerospace (LMIA) 39 cents.

On the downside, Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) gave back 1.73, and Evergreen Solar (ESLR) 1.06, both in the alternative energy group, which had a very weak session.  Sify Ltd. (SIFY) lost a point, and Pacific Ethanol (PEIX) gave back 1.77.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, new highs were hit on the Dow and S&P, but Nasdaq failed to take out its April 6 rally high.  They pulled back in the afternoon and then consolidated and meandered sideways.  We'll have to see whether support at 1725 and then 1720 on the NDX holds.  S&P support is at the 1310 and then 1304-05 areas.

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.