The markets accomplished very little today as they meandered back and forth.  They had a couple of sharp swings, but did not manage to either break down or break out.  It was another consolidation day and day of frustration for traders.

The day started out with a gap up that matched Monday afternoon's highs, but they quickly sold off and sharply in the morning, actually taking out yesterday afternoon's low on the NDX, holding yesterday morning's lows on the S&P, and then a bounce mid-day through the lunch hour took us back up but only recovered about 2/3 of the losses and backed off and meandered sideways for the rest of the session.

Net on the day the Dow was down less than 12, the S&P up 1/3 of a point, and the Nasdaq 100 was off 2 points despite the SOX being up 2 1/3.

Reviewing the technicals, advance-declines were 3 to 2 positive on New York ,but only 15 to 14 positive on Nasdaq.  Up/down volume was positive on New York by 7 to 6 and negative on Nasdaq by 8 to 7.  Total volume was 1.3 billion on New York and a little more than 1.6 billion on Nasdaq.

TheTechTrader.com board was extremely mixed, with several gainers and losers.  On the plus side, JAMDAT Mobile (JMDT) flew past 30 and got up to near the 2005 high early in the morning but backed off.  It still closed at 29.72, up 1.90 today on nearly 1 million shares.

Other gainers included Kendle International (KNDL),one of our watchboard positions, which was a star today, up 1.18 to a new 2 1/2 year high.  Medicore (MDKI) also advanced 70 cents today and made a nominal new 52-week high as well before backing off.

Alvarion (ALVR) retested support, but closed solidly up about a quarter.

On the downside, QLogic (QLGC) gave back a point.  CryptoLogic (CRYP) was down 1.04.  Able Energy (ABLE) in the junior energy group was down 1.11, and Georesources (GEOI) hammered for 1.56. 

Other losers of note, Dynamic Materials (BOOM) backed off 61 cents, and Air T (AIRT) closed below 15 for the first time in a while, off 52 cents.  Parlux Fragrances (PARL) was down 65 cents.

Stepping back and reviewing the overall patterns, the indices remain in an indecisive mode, consolidating above support on the S&P and at support on the NDX, and the next thrust either way will be a strong determining factor in where we go over the next week or two.

As I'll be traveling, this will be our last closing market comments until Monday.  Have a good weekend, and 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.