The market activity today can be summed up as a positive session but more of a consolidation-type day. They were up in the morning, down in the early afternoon and back up in the latter part of the session.

They closed up on the day by just under 20 points on the Dow, 1.60 on the S&P 500, and a little less than 5 Ã,½ on the Nasdaq 100, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) up nearly 4 Ã,½.

The technicals were positive by about 17 to 14 on advance-declines on New York, but negative by 15 to 14 on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was positive by 7 to 6 on New York on total volume of less than 1.4 billion. Nasdaq volume was a little more than 1.7 billion, with about an 11 to 6 positive ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board was narrowly mixed for the most part. There were a couple outstanding gainers. DXP Enterprises (DXPE) gained 1.75 today, following up on recent gains. Mamma.com (MAMA) soared 96 cents or 20% on 14 Ã,½ million shares, closing not far from the highs for the day. Research Frontiers (REFR), a portfolio holding, was up 53 cents, Rochester Medical (ROCM) 58 cents, and Jones Soda (JSDA) 91 cents but about 1.40 off the earlier highs.

Solar energy stocks in particular were strong today, with Evergreen Solar (ESLR) up 47 cents, Ascent Solar (ASTI) 70 cents, and Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) up 56 cents. DayStar Technologies (DSTI) also gained 29 cents in that sector.

Dendreon (DNDN) was up 43 cents on 13.6 million, closing back over 15. The SMH rose 47 cents.

On the downside, Acadia Pharmaceuticals (ACAD) fell 81 cents, Cell Genesis (CEGE) 50c and FuelTek (FTEK) 88 cents. But the loser of the day was U.S Global Investors (GROW), which gave back 5 points off its early morning high, at which point it was up over 3. It closed down 1.87, a big negative reversal day on 7 Ã,½ million shares.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, today’s back and forth market managed to close to the upside, but overall did not get through key overhead resistance at NDX 1440-41. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow.

TheTechTrader.com is closed for vacation and we’ll talk to you again on Monday.

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.