The market had a mixed close, but was generally higher, although the underlying technicals today once again did not confirm price action. That's the second day in a row, and obviously I'm obviously very concerned going into options expiration that unless this thing rights itself very quickly and starts to take off this market is very vulnerable to a hit here.

The day started out with a move higher, right up to yesterday's highs on both the S&P and Dow. Then they rolled over in the morning, retested, made nominal new highs on the NDX, again not confirmed by the S&P, and pulled back into the lunch hour. In the lunch hour and early afternoon the market moved sharply higher, particularly on the Nasdaq 100, fed by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX), which had a big day today, up 15.68, more than 3 percent.

But even the sharp late afternoon highs on the NDX failed to take the S&P with it. The lack of confirmation resulted in a last-hour rollover.

Net on the day, the Dow was up just 20 Ã,½, and although it was over 14,000 at one point, as high as 14,022, it closed at 13,971, up 57. The S&P 500 late in the session slid back into the minus column by 0.15, which was 6 points off the earlier high. The Nasdaq 100 still managed to close up nearly 13 3/4, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX), of course, up 15.60.

However, the technicals were negative today, particularly on the NYSE where advance-declines were 523 negative. Up/down volume was about 4 to 3 negative on total volume of a little over 1.4 billion. Nasdaq was a bit of a different story with advance-declines just slightly positive by 65 issues, but up/down volume was nearly 2 to 1 positive, on total volume of about 2 Ã,¼ billion.

TheTechTrader.com board was very mixed, both up and down. On the plus side, recent Chart of the Week Excel Maritime (EXM) was up 3.55 on nearly 900,000 shares, as the shipping group in general was strong. That group was led by DryShips (DRYS) which today advanced nearly 6 points to new all-time highs. That stock has gone from 8 Ã,½ to 58 Ã,½ in the last 13 months.

Other stocks of note in that group, Chart of the Week Euroseas (ESEA) jumped 1.23, and Sigma Designs (SIGM) had a stellar day, tagging a new all-time high at 32.85, closing at 32.44, up 1.87 on nearly 2 Ã,½ million.

STEC Inc. (STEC) jumped 1.44 on 2.6 million shares.

On the downside, JA Solar (JASO) fell 2.70 and Rediff.com India (REDF) down 1.78, but the big loss of the day was MEDTOX Scientific (MTOX), which dropped 4.76.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, as indicated earlier new highs on the NDX and Dow were not confirmed by the S&P, which is a negative divergence and of course a concern. We'll see how it plays out over the next few days.

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.