The markets gave us pretty much what I expected today, which was basically a consolidation day.

The day started out with a move down and a bounce-back off support.  Support was broken fairly quickly and they edged lower for most of the morning in a rather orderly decline that looked corrective.  Secondary support managed to hold, and after lunch the market staged an afternoon snapback that was rather slow but steady; however, it looked more corrective, and in the last 20-30 minutes the market pulled back off their afternoon rally attempt highs and made lower highs.

Net on the day, the Dow closed down less than a point, very narrow today.  The S&P 500, however, was down 4.61, with the Nasdaq 100 down 10.24 and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) off 4 points.

The technicals were negative decidedly by to 2 to 1 across the board on advance-declines and up/down volume on both exchanges.  Total volume on New York was about 2 billion and Nasdaq more than 2 Ã,½ billion.

TheTechTrader.com board was very mixed.  There were a couple of outstanding gainers.  Martek Biosciences (MATK) on a large contract with General Mills (GIS) shot ahead for more than 2 Ã,¾ points on heavy volume.  Parlux Fragrances (PARL) advanced 1.08, Travelzoo (TZOO) 48 cents , and Zevex (ZVXI) strong in the afternoon up 67 cents.

On the downside, point-plus losers were Apple Computer (AAPL), down 1.82, DXP Enterprises (DXPE) down 1.80, and Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) 1.71.  Qualcomm (QCOM) gave back 91 cents from yesterdayââ,¬â"¢s run-up.

But for the most part, most stocks on my board were fractionally mixed up or down.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the top of the Nasdaq 100 declining channel we had been in for about six weeks has held back the indices, and continues to do so.

The S&P 500 has price and moving average resistance in the 1260-65 zone, and that was not even approached today.  The overall intermediate downtrend is still intact but in jeopardy.

If they can break out above key short-term overhead resistance in the 1575-77 zone on the NDX and above the 1260-62 zone on the S&P, they have a chance of making a lot stronger progress.

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.