The markets certainly had an about-face after a very negative open.  The bulls put on a display today that was very impressive. 

After the futures were down very sharply pre-market, the indices gapped down and plunged early but still held major support levels, and bounced sharply in the morning.  Initial resistance did push them back.  They retested and made higher lows, and retested a third time.  They held the rising bottoms line, and moved sharply higher in the afternoon.  Only a last 45-minute pullback brought them off their highs for the day.

Net on the day, the Dow was up 30 and the S&P 500 up 3, but the late pullback did bring the Nasdaq 100 back into negative territory, ending down nearly 6 today.  That was largely because the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) was down 6 Ã,¾ today.

Technicals managed to get back into positive territory on New York but not on Nasdaq.  Advance-declines were about 18 to 15 positive on New York, but about 17 to 13 negative on Nasdaq.  NYSE Up/down volume was 3 to 2 positive on a total of more than 1.5 billion traded. Nasdaq traded nearly 1.9 billion, and had about a 12 to 7 negative ratio on volume.

So, it was a negative session on Nasdaq, despite the rally, but a positive session for blue chips, and a mixed picture overall.Still not bad for such a negative start today.

TheTechTrader.com board was mixed, with some outstanding issues.  They were led by Escala (ESCL), which exploded and ran hard from 5 to 9 Ã,¼, closing at 8.60, up 4.12, on 8.1 million shares.  Portfolio position Gmarket (GMKT)  was up nearly 3 points today on more than 3 million shares after a positive recommendation by Cramer, closing at 23.47.  Low-priced energy play, SYNM, advanced 1.29 on 9 million shares, closing at 4.10, a strong 47% gain.

Other stocks of note Mamma.com (MAMA) advanced another 34 cents on nearly 24 million, continuing its recent rally.  Chart of the Week Aluminum Corp. of China (ACH) gained another 40 cents on nearly 1 Ã,½ million shares.

On the downside, previous Chart of the Week and recent favorite U.S. Global Investors (GROW) declined 2.25, but even that was some 3 Ã,½ points off the earlier low.  That was the only point-plus loser.

Other losses of note, NVE Corp. (NVEC)  dropped another 87 cents after breaking key support yesterday. Syntax-Brillian (BRLC) lost 57 cents, Acorda Therapeutics (ACOR) 67 cents, China Tech Development (CTDC) in the Chinese sector down 48 cents, and Global Sources (GSOL) down 40 cents.  Rambus (RMBS) dropped 49 cents, and Sigma Designs (SIGM) gave back 52 cents.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, key support was severely tested today but held on the S&P 500 at trendline and lateral price support, and the Nasdaq 100 held its key 1760-65 zone, reaching as low as 1766 and change before bouncing.  However, the 5-month trendline, according to my perceptions, has been violated on the Nasdaq 100, and the late afternoon action may be constituted as a snapback to resistance.

So the bulls have some work to do to keep the trend intact, but certainly an impressive comeback performance today.

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.