The stock market had a strong start to the week, as we thought we'd see, and also had an afternoon pullback, which we also expected. Net on the day it was a mixed market, but most of the indices were lower. Only the Nasdaq 100 ended higher on the day.

The day started out with a gap up, followed by a very quick pullback and consolidation, and then they rallied strongly on the Nasdaq 100, in particular, making new 52-week highs, but the S&P 500 failed to take out even Friday's high. That caused the market to roll over and consolidate, and when they couldn't break out of the flag-type consolidation by mid-day, they started to roll over and sold off fairly hard. In the last hour they did stabilize near Thursday's lows on the S&P 500 and near Friday's lows on the Nasdaq 100, and towards the end of the day tried to snap back but were more convincing on the Nasdaq 100.

The NDX was basically stronger than the S&P all day, despite the fact that the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) was down. Net on the day, the Dow was down 61, the S&P 500 8, the Nasdaq 100 up 7 3/4, and the SOXX down 5.85.

The technicals were negative by about 5 to 3 on advance-declines on New York and by 3 to 2 on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 2 to 1 negative on New York and 3 to 2 on Nasdaq. Total volume was a little less than 1 1/3 billion on New York and a little more than 1.8 billion on Nasdaq.

TheTechTrader.com board was very mixed. Solar energy stocks, which were strong early in the morning, gave back a bunch, and several of them were hit for losses. LDK was down 3.52, and SPWR 2.75. e-Future Information Technology (EFUT) dropped 1.31, and Cree Inc. (CREE) gave back 1.39, but that was about 75 cents off the low.

On the plus side, shipping stocks were strong again. DRYS was up 3.80 and Excel Maritime (EXM) 4.50.

Other large gainers of note, VMW on several upgrades was up 4.52, hitting a new all-time earlier in the day over 85. Aluminum Corp. of China (ACH) gained 3.91 today in a very strong Chinese sector. Also in that sector, Chindex (CHDX) was up 84 cents, China Technology Development up 63 cents, and China Natural Resources (CHNR), up 4.21. It was the leading gainer on Nasdaq today, up about 40 %, and our Chart of the Day.

Portfolio position Cepheid (CPHD) gained 32 cents, Chart of the Week Eschelon Corp. (ELON) up 1.36, and portfolio position VII gained 42 cents.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices pressed the rising moving averages on our hourly charts and held them, snapping back towards the end of the day, but not very convincingly, particularly on the S&P 500.

We'll see if there's an extension to the downside tomorrow, but they're already testing support at these levels.

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.