Indices finally snapped back, but before they did they made new lows for the move.  They turned it around in the last hour, closing up near the highs for the day.

The day started out with some volatility that basically failed at resistance on every move.  They rolled over mid-session into the early afternoon and set the 3 Ã,½ day decline lows at around the 1620 level on the NDX and about the 1284 zone on the S&P 500.

At that point, as indicated, they rallied and closed solidly, with the Dow up 48 and the S&P up 3 1/4.  But the Nasdaq was down 1.01, which was largely due to the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) being down 4.65 today.

The technicals did not make it back to the plus side and in fact were negative by 3 to 2 on advance-declines on New York and 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was about 5 to 4 negative on New York and about 2 1/2 to 1 negative on Nasdaq.

Total volume on New York was 1.85 billion and on Nasdaq more than 2 billion today.

TheTechTrader.com board was unusually active with some wide swings both ways.  On the plus side, Baidu.com (BIDU) on a late afternoon rally advanced 5.84 on more than 4 1/4 million.  Recent Chart of the Week, 51job, Inc. (JOBS) to a new 52-week high gained 2.64 on 1 1/3 million.

But the downside predominated today, with heavy volume as DXP Enterprises (DXPE), dropped more than 7 points on more than 3/4 million shares.  Pacific Ethanol (PEIX) was down more than $4 on 7 million shares, and MGP Ingredients (MGPI), also in the group, was down 3.32 on more than 2.2 million.

Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) gave back 4.05 on 2.2 million as well and Dynamic Materials Corp. (BOOM) dropped 3 points on just under 1.9 million.

Other losses of note, Sierra Wireless (SWIR) fell 72 cents, SunOpta (STKL) 49 cents, Rediff.com India (REDF) 67 cents, Universal Display (PANL) 56 cents, Endwave (ENWV) 68 cents and Chindex (CHDX) 49 cents.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the 3 1/2-day decline extended early on before the late snapback brought them back to test key resistance.

The levels we'll be watching tomorrow are near where they closed at 1635.  Then we have 1640, 1647 and 1652 to contend with. 

On the S&P resistance at around the 1294-95 zone, where they closed, is the level through which they need to pop.

Beyond that, we'll be watching the 1299-1300 area and the 1304-05 zone.  Support now lies at around 1628 NDX and then 1620, with S&P support at 1289-90 and then 1284-85.

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.