No question we had a mixed and divergent day today with the indices going in two different directions. The Nasdaq was down, the blue chips were up.

The day started out with a solid move-up of about 5-6 points on the S&P, but the Nasdaq couldn't do anything better than opening up, and from there on continued to get pressure from the SOX index.

When the S&P got up to its resistance high in the 1215-16 zone and failed, that triggered a sell-off that was exacerbated by a rise in oil to over $55 a barrel.

The indices sold off steadily until shortly after the lunch hour began, bottomed for the session at around 1502 and change on the NDX, which was right in that 1502-04 support zone. The S&P sold off to the 1204-05 zone and held.

Then they started a two-leg rally that hesitated at resistance and then nominally went through them on the NDX resistance at 1515, getting as high as the 1517 zone. The S&P moved up to the 1212-13 zone, which was minor resistance.

In the last couple hours they went sideways in what looked like a consolidation pattern, but when there was no late breakout they sold off into the close.

Net on the day the Dow was up 21, the S&P up 0.39, but the Nasdaq was down 9 on the Composite and 13 1/3 on the 100. The SOX, which, as I said, pressured Nasdaq, was off 5.60 or more than 1 percent today.

The technicals were positive on New York and negative on Nasdaq. Advance-declines were 17 to 15 positive on New York and 16 to 14 negative on Nasdaq. But up/down volume was negative on both exchanges by about 8 to 7 on New York but almost 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. Total volume was 1.6 billion on New York and 1.85 billion on Nasdaq.

On TheTechTrader.com board, stocks to the upside were ANTP, which snapped back 2.33. CRYP was up 82 cents, DSTI 75 cents and ESLR 45 cents in the alternative energy sector.

Most other stocks were fractionally mixed, except for DCAI, which gave back 1.43 today, and WPTE, which lost 1.03.

In the large-cap sector, most stocks were only fractionally changed and very narrowly at that. The QQQQ was down 31 cents and the SMH 37 cents.

Stepping back and reviewing the overall patterns, the Nasdaq definitely negatively diverged today and broke down through its 21 and then 40 day moving average support on the hourly charts. However, the S&P is holding above support and moving averages, as is the Dow.

So we'll see if the S&P and Dow can pull the Nasdaq back up, or whether the Nasdaq's pressure will have a material effect on the blue chips and bring them down. Right now the jury is still out.

Good trading!

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.