The stock market indices, certainly in earnest, stepped lower with big gaps to the downside this morning. They rallied sharply right to resistance, rolled over even harder, and spiked down to 3945 Nasdaq 100, and 1974 S&P 500. Then they rallied midday, backed and filled in the afternoon, but couldn't make any headway, although the last 20 minutes, or so, it did have a nice little spike into the close to pare back losses.

Net on the day, the Dow was down 123.23 at 16,960.57. The S&P 500 was down 9.64 at 1978.34. The Nasdaq 100 was down 18.02 at 3965.16, 20 points off the low and 5 points off the high.

Advance-declines were 2 to 1 negative on the New York Stock Exchange, and 2 to 1 negative on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 2 to 1 negative on New York, with total volume of 850 million shares. Nasdaq traded 1.6 billion shares, and had a 2 to 1 negative volume ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board was mixed today. Priceline.com Incorporated (PCLN) was down 8.95 to 1227.78, Google Inc. (GOOG) down 4.33 to 589.02, Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) down a whopping 34.71 to 323.90, Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) 3.52 to 421.86. Apple Inc. (AAPL) managed to keep its head above water by 64 cents to 97.67.

Pharmacyclics Inc. (PCYC) and Tesla Motors, Inc. (TSLA) hang in there by pennies, and was down only 3 cents to 213.49.

Twitter, Inc. was down 55 cents to 38.16, and Facebook, Inc. (FB) was up 22 cents to 75.20.

On the upside, Royal Gold, Inc. (RGLD), in a very strong gold sector today, and one of our swing trades, was up 1.57 to 78.07.

Most of the other stocks on our board were fractional gainers today. First Solar, Inc. (FSLR) advanced 75 cents to 64.05, and SolarCity Corporation (SCTY) managed to gain 41 cents to 72.57.

Checking the TheTechTrader.com percent-gain leaderboard, by far the new issue EL POLLO LOCO HOLDINGS, INC. (LOCO) was the big story of the day. It opened at 18.48, spiked up to 24.40, and then pulled back to 24.03, up 9.03, or 60.2%, on 23.5 million shares. Datalink Corporation (DTLK), on good earnings, ran 2.01 to 11.97, or 20%, on nearly a million shares. Hydrogenics Corporation (HYGS), which we traded today, gained 3.19 to 21.33, or 17 1/2%.

Mellanox Technologies, Ltd. (MLNX), which we traded today, up 6.83 to 44.49, or 18%, on 4.5 million shares. Acacia Research Corporation (ACTG) thrust 2.51 to 17.49, or 17%, on 1.4 million shares. Qlik Technologies, Inc. (QLIK) jumped 3.44 to 26.83, or 15%, on 9.1 million shares. SolarWinds, Inc. (SWI) moved up 4.72 to 44.28, or 12%, on 1.4 million shares.

Among other gainers, VeriSign, Inc. (VRSN) was up 5.76 to 55.59, Galectin Therapeutics, Inc. (GALT) up 1.60 to 15.32, Baidu, Inc. (BIDU), which we traded today, up 22.23, or 226.50, HomeAway, Inc. (AWAY) 2.92 to 35.57, Abaxis, Inc. (ABAX) 3.80 to 45.88.

In addition, Tenet Healthcare Corp. (THC) 4.39 to 53.61, Ctrip.com International Ltd. (CTRP) 4.78 to 67.00, YY Inc. (YY) 5.10 to 79.25, and Universal Health Services Inc. (UHS) 6.69 to 104.23.

Zillow, Inc. (Z) popped 13.10 to 158.86, on rumors of a takeover by Trulia, Inc. (TRLA) up 2.61 to 56.35.

The Direxion Daily Jr Gld Mnrs Bull 3X Shrs (JNUG) thrust 2.92 to 26.74, and the ETF Direxion Daily Gold Miners Bull 3X Shrs (NUGT) climbed 3.51 to 47.16.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices gapped down sharply at the opening, bounced around, took back about a third of their losses, and then rolled over to even steeper losses, before bouncing midday, and backing and filling in the afternoon.

Keep pointing at the indices as this market can come down much more substantially after it breaks today's low

We'll be watching them on Monday.

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