Today was a mixed session with the indices up at the opening, back down right after that, rather sharply as well, and then a sharp snapback rally that took the NDX to new highs, but with the S&P failing to do so. They pulled back mid-day, and then tried to rally again in early afternoon, with the indices reaching new snapback highs, and the S&P 500 and NDX reaching session highs.

Over the last couple hours they drifted lower, and in the last few minutes they did snap back a little bit. But results were mixed on the session, with technicals rather poor.

Net on the day the Dow was up 35 Ã,½, but the S&P was down 1/2. The Nadsaq 100 was up 8.70. That was chiefly due to the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) up nearly 15.

However, technicals were rather negative with advance/declines 425 issues lower on the New York Stock Exchange and by about 300 issues on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 8 to 7 negative on New York and 11 to 10 positive on Nasdaq. Total volume was about 1.6 billion on New York and about 2.2 billion on Nasdaq.

TheTechTrader.com board was narrowly mixed for the most part, but there were some outstanding point-plus gainers. DXP Enterprises (DXPE) gained 1.43. Force Protection (FRPT), one of our portfolio positions, was up 1.82 on a big contract announcement.

The SMH advanced 1.22 today, based on the SOXX performance, of course.

Other stocks of note, USA Technologies (USAT), a recent Chart of the Week, was up 56 cents. JDA Software (JDAS), also a recent Chart of the Week, was up 39 cents. ISIS Pharmaceuticals (ISIS) snapped back 32 cents, FuelTek (FTEK) snapped back 81 cents, and Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) 77 cents.

On the downside, there were only fractional losses, with nothing down more than 30-40 cents on our board.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, there were new 2007 highs set on the Nasdaq 100, but the S&P failed to take out its high. The Dow also made a nominal new high, getting to within 10 points of 13,000, but then backing off about 35 points off that level.

With today’s poor technicals, it looks like the advance is getting long in the tooth and the markets may now be vulnerable to a decline shortly.

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.