The indices had another up-day today, but it was a difficult afternoon, although they did come back near the close to recapture back some of the gains.

The day started out with a very strong rally taking the indices to new rally highs.  They then went into a three-hour consolidation phase.  It looked like they were going to break to the upside, but when no secondary move materialized they rolled over and accelerated to the downside and broke through initial support. They did hold at secondary support and in the last hour they snapped back to resistance and closed right there.

Net on the day the Dow was up 81 1/2 but about 37 points off the high.  The S&P was up about 10 3/4, 3 1/2 points off the high. The Nasdaq 100 closed up just under 17 points, about 8 points off the high, and the SOX Index today gained 3.19 and helped Nasdaq to the plus side.

The technicals were very solid by 24 to 9 positive on New York and about 20 to 11 positive on Nasdaq.  Up/down volume  was more than 3 to 1 positive on New York on light volume of about 1 1/3 billion.  Nasdaq was a bit heavier, traded about 1 3/4 billion shares, with about 1.4 billion of it to the upside, about a 4 to 1 positive ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board was very mixed, with most of the gains in the morning, but several of our market favorites gave them back today.  Dynamic Materials (BOOM), which went to a new all-time high this morning over 45, closed just over 41 1/2, down about 2 1/4 on over 3 1/2 million shares, a downside reversal.  Air T (AIRT) similarly went to a new rally high near 20, closing at 17.95, down 1.10.

Other losers of note, JAMDAT Mobile (JMDT) really got hammered from over 28 to nearly 25, closing just under 25 3/4, down nearly 2 1/2 points today.  NovAtel (NGPS) also reversed and gave back nearly 1.50 today on close to a million shares today.  Cree Inc. (CREE) was down 88 cents, Forward Industries (FORD) down 72 cents, Parlux Fragrances (PARL) 52 cents, and Vasco Data (VDSI) on a downgrade, off 76 cents.

On the plus side, the junior energy and alternative energy stocks did well, with Georesources (GEOI) up more than 1 and Able Energy (ABLE) up 29 cents, but about 1.30 off the earlier high.  DayStar Technologies (DSTI) was up 53 cents, and Evergreen Solar (ESLR) up 22 cents.

CryptoLogic (CRYP) gained nearly a point today, near its 52-week high.   Medicore (MDKI), a new Chart of the Week Watchboard position, was up 95 cents today and breaking out across 2-month resistance.

In the large-cap sector, Intel (INTC) advanced 37 cents to a new 2005 high.  QLogic (QLGC) was up 65 cents and Broadcom (BRCM) up a small fraction in the semiconductor sector.  The SMH advanced 22 cents and the QQQQ 33 cents.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices reached a level at which the Nasdaq 100 was up at high today 170 points off the April 29 low, or about 12 percent, but the afternoon pullback was rather sharp and we'll have to see over the next day or so whether this leads to any downside penetration, which we have not gotten yet.  The trend is still intact.

Areas to watch are the 1550-51 zone followed by the 1540 area on the Nasdaq 100.  Support on the S&P is at 1197 and then 1190.

Good trading!

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.