The markets had a strong start to the week with a nice little pop in the first 15 minutes, but basically that was it for the day. The S&P 500 went to nominal new multi-year highs, hitting 1511, but the NDX failed to confirm by taking out its highs. The rest of the day was spent moving sideways in a flag pattern and consolidation on the S&P 500, and a downward sloping flag on the NDX, although the NDX did manage to close up a very small fraction on the day.

Net on the day, the Dow was up 48.35 to a new all-time high of 13,313. The S&P was up 3.86, closing about a point and a half off the high, and the Nasdaq 100 was up 0.26, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) down 1.76 today, putting pressure on the NDX.

The technicals were positive by 18 to 14 Ã,½ on New York and negative by 16 to 14 on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 7 to 5 positive on New York with a total of about 1 Ã,¼ billion traded. Nasdaq traded about 1.5 billion with a slightly negative plurality on up/down volume. But overall volume today was lighter than it has been.

TheTechTrader.com board was mixed. The point-plus gainers today were NVE Corp. (NVEC), up another 1.42, extending its recent gains. Global Solutions (GSOL) surged 1.05 today nearing its three-month highs. Voxware (VOXW) gained 1.12.

Other gainers of note, Jones Soda (JSDA) snapped back 80 cents. JA Solar (JASO) gained 67 cents, and Syntax-Brillian (BRLC), one of our Charts of the Week, was up 30 cents.

On the downside, the loser by far today was IDM Pharma (IDMI), which got hammered for a loss of 3.88, or more than 40 percent today after negative drug news. Dendreon (DNDN) fell 3 points off its earlier high and closed down 1.47 on the day on 27 Ã,½ million. Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) dropped 1.67. Metabolix (MBLX), down 1.12, completed the list of point-plus losers today.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, today’s action can be considered as more consolidation as the S&P traded in a 3-point range all session, with the afternoon session moving in a very narrow 2-point range. So some very narrow action there. The NDX traded in a more downward-sloping pullback, but corrective-looking.

We’ll see if this leads to further gains over the course of the week. With the Fed meeting later this week, things could get awfully quiet in the next day or so.

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.