Today was a fairly important session in that the indices broke key short-term support.

The day started out with a move higher off the get-go.  The early rally faded rather quickly with a sharp sell-off in the morning.  They bounced mid-morning and through the lunch hour, and then resumed the sell-off in the afternoon to new lows for the session.  With about an hour to go they reached the lows for the session and had a last-hour snapback rally that brought them off the lows.

Net on the day, the Dow closed below 11,300, down 42 points.  The S&P 500 fell 5.83, the Nasdaq 100 more than 13, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) down 3 Ã,¼.

Technicals were negative by about 11 to 5 on the NYSE on advance-declines, and a little more than 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was also decidedly negative by 2 Ã,½ to 1 on New York on total volume of 1.17 billon. Nasdaq traded more than 1 1/3 billion, with about an 8 Ã,½ to 5 negative ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board was mostly lower.  One outstanding issue on the upside was NVE Corp. (NVEC), a recent Chart of the Week, which soared through 30 today, closing at 30.90, up 3.20 on 1.2 million shares.  Other stocks of note on the plus side, Rediff.com India (REDF) popped 48 cents. PW Eagle (PWEI) hit a new all-time high this morning at 36.85, before backing off and closing at 35.60, up 30 cents on more than half a million.

Interphase (INPH), also a Chart of the Week, moved up 18 cents, and Avici Systems (AVCI), one of our recent Charts of the Week, was up 21 cents.

On the downside, Baidu.com (BIDU) dropped 2.55, Travelzoo (TZOO)  2.07, and DXP Enterprises (DXPE) 1.06.  Recent Boxer Short last weekend, AMERCO (UHAL), closed at 67.71, down 2.30 today.

Other stocks of note on the downside, Qualcomm (QCOM) dropped 86 cents, Momenta Pharmaceuticals (MNTA) 81 cents, Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) 99 cents, and recent Chart of the Week, Key Tronic (KTCC) , got hammered on an earnings reports, down 1.22 on 1.3 million.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, key support was broken during this morningââ,¬â"¢s decline, when the Nasdaq 100 dropped below the 1556-57 support zone, reaching near 1544 before snapping back and closing just under 1551.

The S&P 500 also broke key four-day support at around the 1294-95 zone, reaching as low as 1289 before backing up to 1292 Ã,½.  But the moving averages on the hourly charts have rolled over, and the indices have broken key short-term support.  Unless they snap back rather quickly we may be due for some additional downside over the next few days.

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.