The markets had a sloppy session and ended to the downside.  However, the day did start out with a gap-up as the futures were higher before the opening, but they quickly sold off in the morning, made a nominal new low on the Nasdaq 100 but did not on the S&P.  That resulted in a corrective move back up from mid-morning through lunch hour that failed at resistance and near the morning highs, just making slightly new highs before they rolled over sharply after lunch. Then they came down hard for the next couple hours, taking us to new pullback lows on the NDX, which tested the 1524-25 minor support level and bounced over the last couple hours.

The S&P 500 went to a lower low in late afternoon, but also rallied during the last hour or so.  However, net on the day the Dow was down 6.21, the S&P down 2.59, the NDX 3.44, but the SOX was up 2.75 and if it wasn't for the semiconductor group, Nasdaq would have had a much steeper loss.

The technicals were about 18 1/2 to 14 negative on New York, 17 1/2 to 12 1/2 negative on Nasdaq, about 3 to 2.  Up/down volume was a little more than 7 to 6 negative on New York with about 1.3 billion traded.  Nasdaq traded about 1.55 billion, with about 900 million of it to the downside, or about 3 to 2 negative.

TheTechTrader.com board was mostly narrowly mixed, with a couple exceptions. Dynamic Materials (BOOM) busted today, down 3.18, breaking near-term support. Forward Industries (FORD) backed off 91 cents, CryptoLogic (CRYP) was off 71 cents and Taser (TASR) fell about 40 cents.

DayStar Technologies (DSTI) in the alternative energy sector gave up 45 cents, and Able Energy (ABLE) was off 93 cents.

On the plus side, JAMDAT Mobile (JMDT) snapped back 55 cents and Georesources (GEOI) 48 cents.  Parlux Fragrances (PARL) was up 90 cents and Travelzoo (TZOO) 50 cents.

But for the most part most stocks we follow, especially the large caps, were narrowly mixed.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, yesterday's late plunge on the indices broke the neckline of the two week head-and-shoulders top pattern.  Today's rally attempt failed right at resistance and made lower lows.  So technically the indices have broken down on Nasdaq, but not quite yet on the S&P 500.  However, they have come through a couple minor layers of support and are in the midst of testing key short-term support in the 1191-92 zone, which we approached late in the day today before a late bounce. 

Tomorrow we'll be watching to see if short-term support can hold and the indices can snap back or whether support will be taken out, sending the indices down much deeper.

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.