The market experienced a very steep, severe decline, and it was steady all day with only a mid-afternoon respite interrupting the decline. 

The day started out negatively, selling off sharply in the morning.  They bounced a couple times mid-day but didn't get too far, and then sold off in the afternoon.  Only a late snapback brought them off the lows.

Net on the day the Dow closed at 11,500, down 142.  The S&P 500 fell nearly 17 to just below 1306.  The Nasdaq was where the damage was done today, with the Nasdaq 100 off 37.35, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) down 11 1/2.

Technicals were extremely negative and surely confirmed the decline, with advance-declines 26 to 6 negative on New York and 24 1/2 to 6 on Nasdaq.  Up/down volume was near extreme, about 6 to 1 negative on New York with nearly 1.85 billion traded.  Nasdaq was way worse than that, with 2.15 billion traded to the downside and less than 300 million to the upside, a more than 7 to 1 negative ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board was mostly negative, but there were some outstanding gainers.  On the plus side, ethanol stocks were strong, with MGPI up 2.93 and Pacific Ethanol (PEIX) up 1.27.  Portfolio position LMI Aerospace (LMIA) ignored the decline today and advanced another 1.71, closing at 21.86.

51job Inc. (JOBS), a recent Chart of the Week, was up 1.04, and Zevex (ZVXI) up 46 cents.

On the downside, the loss leader was Energy Conversion Devices (ENER), which gave back 3.64 of yesterday's huge 6-point gain.   Among large-cap stocks, Apple Computer (AAPL) was down 2.45 and Broadcom (BRCM) 2.47.  Baidu.com (BIDU) down 2.47 as well, with Fuel Tech (FTEK) down 1.55 and Sierra Wireless (SWIR) off 1.32.

Other losses of note, SunOpta (STKL) gave back 82 cents, Evergreen Solar (ESLR) 59 cents, DXP Enterprises (DXPE) 70 cents, and Dynamic Materials Corp. (BOOM) 87 cents.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, after key support was broken at 1680 on the NDX, they virtually collapsed another 25 points.  The S&P 500 took out support this morning at 1317 and then accelerated to the downside and retested the lows of the last two weeks before bouncing late in the session.

But a very negative heavy volume thrust to the downside does not augur well for future prices, and we may see some additional damage over the next few days.

But the market was extremely oversold intraday and may result in a snapback retest to resistance tomorrow, which I am expecting.

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.