The indices had a profit-taking Monday today.  The futures were lower before the opening.  The indices gapped lower, went lower for most of the morning, hit the session lows just before the lunch hour, rallied through lunch hour and then consolidated quietly in the afternoon before attempting a late rally.  The NDX went to nominal new highs, but the S&P went to snapback highs and failed to follow through, selling off in the last half hour.

Net on the day the Dow was down 36 1/2, the S&P 500 4 Ã,¾, and the Nasdaq 100 15 1/3.  The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) was off 9.12, or a little more than 2 percent.

The technicals were negative by 3 to 2 on advance-declines on New York and 2 to 1 on Nasdaq.  Up/down volume was less than 2 to 1 negative on New York on total volume of about 1.1 billion.  Nasdaq had a 2 Ã,½ to 1 negative ratio on up/down volume, on total volume of about 1 1/3 billion.

So, a bit lower volume today, as well.

TheTechTrader.com board  was very mixed, with more point-plus losers than gainers.  On the plus side, OraLabs (OLAB) gapped up on news and ran hard all day, up 3.31, a more than 100% gain today on 4.7 million.  The GLD gold tracking stock ETF was up 1.40 based on the rise in gold.  Portfolio position U.S. Global Investors (GROW) was up 1.50.  Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) snapped back 93 cents.  PW Eagle (PWEI) was up 30 cents, POZN up 41 cents, Rambus (RMBS) 46 cents, portfolio position Radio Shack (RSH) up 32 cents, and Pacific Ethanol (PEIX) 41 cents.

On the downside, losers included Apple Computer (AAPL) down 1.35, Baidu.com (BIDU) 1.30, Akamai (AKAM) 1.25, and Broadcom (BRCM) 1.11, with Group 1 Automotive (GPI), a Boxer Short & Chart of the Week, down 1.12 today.  NVE Corp. (NVEC)  lost 89 cents.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns. The indices, particularly the Nasdaq 100, pressed hard on Fridayââ,¬â"¢s lows, but held before firming in the afternoon.  The S&P 500 made a higher low.  Both indices held the moving averages on the hourly charts before firming in the afternoon.  So far the pullback must be construed as a consolidation until key support breaks.  The 1557 area on the Nasdaq 100 and the 1294 area on the S&P 500 will be the levels of support weââ,¬â"¢ll be keeping an eye on tomorrow.

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.