It was an interesting and volatile session.  The indices gapped lower and went to new pullback lows, reaching as low as 1560 on the NDX and 1292 on the S&P 500 before staging a strong morning rally that took them right back up to overhead resistance.  They pulled back mid-morning into the lunch hour and rallied again to new session highs right at key overhead resistance at around 1580-81 on the NDX and around the 1301-02 zone on the S&P and failed there.  They then rolled over and pulled back steadily for the rest of the afternoon, closing near the afternoon lows and not far from the session lows.

Net on the day the Dow was down 75, the S&P down 6 Ã,¼, and the Nasdaq 100 7 1/3, but the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) managed to gain 1 Ã,½ points and kept Nasdaq from a bigger loss.

The technicals were decidedly negative by 2 to 1 on advance-declines on New York and a little less than that on Nasdaq.  Up/down volume was also about 2 to 1 negative on New York and about 2 Ã,½ to 1 negative on Nasdaq.  Total volume was more than 1.4 billion on New York and more than 1.8 billion on Nasdaq.

TheTechTrader.com board was mixed, mostly fractionally negative, but there some outstanding gainers.  NVE Corp. (NVEC), after dropping sharply from yesterdayââ,¬â"¢s high over 37, dipped under 30 at one point today but rallied very strongly for the rest of the day and closed up 5.66 at 37.13 on more than 3 million today.

Other stocks of note on the plus side, Apple Computer (AAPL) had a stellar day, reaching up near its May highs before backing off, but still closed up 2.77 on 45 million shares.

Low-priced Gigamedia (GIGM) broke out to a new multi-year high and gained 1.47 on 5.6 million, and Versant (VSNT) was up 1.06 on nearly 800,000.

On the downside, loss leaders were Dynamic Materials Corp. (BOOM) down 1.63, Broadcom (BRCM) 1.05, and Qualcomm (QCOM) 1.07.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices had broken hard this morning, but managed to snap back only to fail at resistance and roll over.  Weââ,¬â"¢ll be watching todayââ,¬â"¢s lows, because if taken out the indices could be sloppy and lower for the next several days.  Thatââ,¬â"¢s what weââ,¬â"¢re anticipating unless theyââ,¬â"¢re able to hold todayââ,¬â"¢s lows.

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.