The stock market indices suffered a distinct down day today, with very sharp down gaps at the opening, followed by drops in the first 45 minutes to session lows for the Nasdaq 100. They snapped back late morning, which turned over into a wedge-type consolidation on the NDX. The S&P 500 kept stair-stepping lower until the last hour when they both snapped back on what appeared to be short-covering bargain hunting. Net on the day, the Dow was down 203.66 at 12,759.15, which was about 25 points off the low. The S&P 500 fell 20.97 to 1343.36, 3 points off its low, and the Nasdaq 100 was down 25.97 at 2588.95, with about a 1% loss there today, 13 points off its low. Advance-declines were sharply lower. They were 10 to 1 negative on the New York Stock Exchange, with 2770 down and 62 up, and 5 1/2 to 1 negative on Nasdaq, with 447 up and 2100 down. Up/down volume was around 22 to 1 negative on New York, with 34 million up and 836 million down, as overall volume increased to 875 million shares traded today. Nasdaq had a 6 1/2 to 1 negative volume ratio, trading nearly 1.85 billion shares, with 1.6 billion of that to the downside, despite the late rally. TheTechTrader.com board, however, was mostly higher. Leading the way by far today was Vermillion, Inc. (VRML), a junior biotech, which jumped 1.67 to 3.00, or 125 1/2%, on 10.6 million shares traded, a 12,500% increase in volume. We traded that one today and had one of the best trades of the year today. XOMA Corporation (XOMA), a biopharmaceutical company, was up 41 cents to 1.86, or 28.28%, on 9.2 million shares. Harvest Natural Resources Inc. (HNR), a junior energy stock, gained 1.44 to 7.70, or 23%, on 4.3 million shares. Another junior biotech, DUSA Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (DUSA), climbed 1.15 to 5.80, or 25%, on 1.66 million shares. Other gainers of note included Medidata Solutions, Inc. (MDSO) up 3.18 to 23.97, Monster Worldwide, Inc. (MWW) 80 cents to 8.32, OmniVision Technologies Inc. (OVTI) 1.33 to 17.16, Shuffle Master, Inc. (SHFL) 1.48 to 16.05, Verifone Systems, Inc. (PAY) 3.69 to 50.24, Stamps.com Inc. (STMP) 1.19 to 24.58, and Jarden Corp (JAH) 1.29 to 37.05. On the downside, Apple Inc. (AAPL) dropped 2.90 to 530.26. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS) was down nearly $5 at 4.96 to 113.67, and closed not far off the low for the day. International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) was off 3.40 to 197.26. Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) fell 3.68 to 107.13, and is looking very weak here. SodaStream International Ltd. (SODA), which broke support the other day, continued its decline, down 2.25 to 35.05. Ultra-long Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X Shares (FAS) lost 6.17 to 86.20, and the Direxion Daily Small Cap Bull 3X Shares (TNA) was down 3.46 to 53.51. The ultra-shorts did well. The Direxion Daily Small Cap Bear 3X Shares (TZA) was up 1.19 to 21.13. The Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3X Shares (FAZ) jumped 1.65 to 26.82. The ProShares UltraShort Silver (ZSL) took back 61 cents to 10.29. Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were down sharply early on, snapped back, but couldn’t take out the highs, and rolled back to retest. The S&P 500 made new lows and the NDX failed to do so, and that’s what caused the late rally perhaps. We feel as though an important breakdown occurred today, and that we may see lower levels over the next few sessions. Good Trading! Harry