The indices were down today and made new lows for 2005's early decline. After moving sideways in what looked like bear flags this morning, they then moved sharply lower in the afternoon, took out the early morning lows, went to new lows for the year, and then had a post-lunch rally that got back up towards the highs for the session on the Nasdaq 100 but beneath that on the S&P. That rally failed at the declining tops lines, and the market went sideways for a couple of hours before backing off into the close.

Net on the day the Dow was down 62, the S&P 500 off 7, the Nasdaq Composite 17 1/3 and the Nasdaq 100 nearly 11 1/2, with the SOX Semiconductor Index down 10 points, or 2 1/2 percent. That's what really hurt Nasdaq today.

After the close Intel (INTC) is going to report, and that will have a lot to say about where the market, particularly the high-tech sector, goes tomorrow.

The technicals confirmed the downside, about a 2 to 1 negative plurality on advance-declines on New York and more than that on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was more than 3 to 1 negative on New York on total volume of about 1 1/4 billion. Nasdaq volume was about 2 billion, with 1.57 billion to the downside, or about 3 1/2 to 1 negative.

TheTechTrader.com board reflected that, but there were no losses of as much as 1 point. Among the leaders on the upside, Zoltek (ZOLT) roared ahead to a new seven-year high, up 94 cents, but had been up about 1 point higher earlier in the day.

Other than that there were very small fractional changes on my board. On the downside, Dynamic Materials (BOOM), down 94 cents, was the loss leader. Nitromed (NTMD) was down 83 cents and Parlux Fragrances (PARL) 84 cents, along with Smith Micro (SMSI) down 56 cents and World Poker Tour (WPTE) down 46 cents.

Stepping back and reviewing the overall patterns, the indices after mid-day losses tried to recover, but could not get back up through important overhead resistance and the trend still remains down.

Levels to watch tomorrow are 1562 and then 1570 NDX and 1187 and then 1195 on the S&P 500.

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.