Yesterday after the close we indicated the market needed follow-through because it was at key overhead resistance and we certainly did not get that today.

The indices opened lower. They went lower all morning, and for the rest of the day meandered back and forth in what looked like a bearish consolidation pattern. We’ll see if that turns out to be the case tomorrow, when the indices either follow-through to the downside or take this consolidation pattern to the upside. They tried on 3-4 attempts intraday to break out across intraday resistance, which was 1795-96 on the NDX and approximately the 1431 range on the S&P, but they failed on at least 3-4 occasions to break through. Late in the session they pulled back and closed not far off the lows for the day on the NDX and bit above them on the S&P.

Net on the day the Dow was down 71.78, the S&P 500 off nearly 9, and the Nasdaq 100 down just a tad over 13. THE Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) was down 3 Ã,¼.

The technicals definitely confirmed the negative day today, with about 22 Ã,½ to 10 negative plurality on NYSE advance-declines and 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was a little less than 3 to 1 negative, with total volume fairly light today just above 1 1/3 billion. Nasdaq traded about 1.7 billion, with a more than 2 to 1 negative ratio on advancing volume over declining volume.

TheTechTrader.com board was narrowly mixed with very few outstanding point-plus gainers or losers. On the plus side, AVCI, former Chart of the Week, finally woke up today and exploded up 1.52 to a new 52-week high on 1.8 million shares. Acadia Pharmaceuticals (ACAD) jumped 1.12, setting new highs, on 3 million shares.

Rochester Medical (ROCM) was up 70 cents, and biotech Nuvelo (NUVO) gained 77 cents on 28 million shares on positive drug news. Lumera Corp. (LMRA) jumped late in the session, up 43 cents on more than 1 million shares.

On the downside, Boxer Short Bear Stearns (BSC) dropped 2.31, DXPE 2.30 and U.S Global Investors (GROW) 1.80. Boxer Short Lehman Brothers (LEH) gave back 97 cents, and NVE Corp. (NVEC) lost 80 cents.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices as indicated came down hard in the morning, meandered sideways in consolidation patterns for most of the afternoon, and we’ll see if that sets up more downside tomorrow.

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.