The markets had a positive finish to the week, but the best that can be said about it was that it ended up on the day. 

The day started out with a huge gap up on very positive economic news, especially on Nasdaq, where the NDX was up nearly 20 points pre-market.  Unfortunately, after the first few minutes, the Nasdaq 100 reached its highs for the day, and the rest of the day was spent slipping downhill in an orderly corrective-looking channel.

The S&P 500 did manage to make higher highs later in the morning, reaching new highs for 2006, as did the Dow, making new all-time highs, but at that point the NDX failed to confirm, and they pulled back mid-session, tried an afternoon rally that failed, and then they rolled over into the close.

Net on the day, the Dow was up 20 Ã,¾, the S&P 500 up just 1.60, and the Nasdaq 100 a little over 5.  The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) was barely ahead by just 0.13.

The technicals, which were sharply higher near the opening, moved into the negative side for the most part.  Advance-declines were negative by about 17 to 15 on New York and by 16 to 14 on Nasdaq.  Up/down volume was negative by 10 to 9 on New York on a total volume of 2.4 billion traded.   Nasdaq managed to have a very positive up/down volume session, with more than 2.4 billion traded and a positive ratio of a little less than 2 to 1.

TheTechTrader.com board was mostly narrowly changed today.  There were a couple positive gainers and a couple point-plus losers.  On the plus side, portfolio positions China GrenTech (GRRF) had an excellent day, up 1.57 to a new 8-month high and Gmarket(GMKT) advanced $1.25

Other gainers of note, Mamma.com (MAMA) advanced 39 cents on 26 million shares today, although it was substantially higher earlier in the day.  NeoMagic (NMGC) jumped 32 cents, and Simpletech (STEC), also a portfolio position, hit a new all-time high, up 27 cents on the day.

China stocks were mixed, but China Techfaith (CNTF) advanced 35 cents.  China Aluminum (ACH), a new one weââ,¬â"¢re following, was up 92 cents.

On the downside point-plus lowers were Home Inns & Hotels (HMIN), down 1.48, and the GLD gold tracking stock, down 1.12.

Other losses of note, NVE Corp. (NVEC) fell 72 cents, Rambus (RMBS) 50 cents, Sigma Designs (SIGM) 48 cents, and Chindex (CHDX) 55 cents.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, as noted earlier new 2006 highs were made on the Dow and S&P 500, with the Dow hitting new all-time highs, but the Nasdaq 100 failed to take out its 2006 high, although it got close, and the rest of the day was spent moving backward.

Short-term support at around 1804-05 on the NDX and 1425 on the S&P will be monitored carefully on Monday.  Beneath that the 1760-70 zone is very important on the NDX, as is the 1400-05 zone on the S&P.

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.