We had a mixed and sloppy session today.  The blue chips managed to close up on the day with the Nasdaq down, fueled by the SOX, which had a 1 percent down day as well.  The day started out with a rally attempt that quickly gave way.  They slid for most of the morning on the Nasdaq 100, but stabilized on the S&P and Dow.  In the afternoon, Nasdaq went to lower lows, but he S&P didn't, which triggered a mid-afternoon rally that was rather sharp.  It only lasted about a half hour, and then the market gave it back just as quickly and then stabilized in the last hour.

Net on the day, the Dow was up 25 and the S&P 500 3. The Nasdaq 100, however, was down 4.71 and the SOX was down 4.62, which pressured Nasdaq all day.

The technicals were mixed as well.   Advance-declines on New York were excellent by 20 to 12, but up/down volume was less than 2 to 1 positive.   Total volume there was about 1.3 billion.  Nasdaq traded about 1 1/3 billion.  Advance-declines were 17 to 12 positive, with up/down volume 7 to 6 negative.

TheTechTrader.com board had some outstanding issues today.  Solar energy stock DayStar Technologies (DSTI) exploded again, up to 14.70 this morning before backing off under 14.  It closed at 13.94, up 1.60 on 6.3 million. JAMDAT Mobile (JMDT) advanced 1.01 and Amylin Pharmaceuticals (AMLN) 1.03.

Other alternative energy stocks Evergreen Solar (ESLR) was  up 66 cents and Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) was up 52 cents.

Alvarion (ALVR) advanced 20 cents and Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) up 25 cents.

On the downside, Internet Initiative Japan (IIJI) got hit and how today with a major sell-off, particularly late in the session.  The stock closed down 2.92 at 10.98 on 13.3 million shares, gapping down this morning on news of a stock offering.

Most other stocks were fractionally mixed on the TheTechTrader.com board.

Stepping back and reviewing the overall patterns, the afternoon session saw the NDX hold three times the 1521-22 zone, just above last week's lows, and so far that's positive technically.  The S&P and Dow, on the other hand, are holding up much better and are above their moving averages on the hourly charts, whereas the NDX has remained below the moving averages for the last couple sessions.

So we'll see which one has the power and leads the way.  So far the blue chips appear to want to take control and drag the Nasdaq back up.

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.