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Good day all. This is John Monroe. Many of you may remember me from last year, as I was the Editor of the free daily newsletter you continue to receive from us here at SmallCap Network. I've since moved on to become the Editor-In-Chief and Senior Analyst of our new SmallCap Network Elite Opportunity (SCN EO) service, which we launched for serious traders and investors earlier this year. I wanted to reach out today and provide you with a unique opportunity giving you the chance to try it out for FREE. However, before you decide to give it a shot, let me give you an update on what we've accomplished for our SCN EO Members year-to-date. A bit of a report card, if you will.

Earlier in the year when the markets really started to move, naysayer after Wall Street naysayer came out and suggested these markets couldn't go any higher with concerns over our deficit and government spending. We strongly suggested to SCN EO Members the markets were going higher, and they did. Then, the sequester hit center stage and again, Wall Street continued to suggest these markets couldn't go any higher. Well, again, we strongly suggested the markets would go higher and they did.

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Yesterday's stumble from stocks was a red flag, but a forgivable one (and maybe even forgettable). After all, the indices all managed to push up and off their lows for the day. The bears took another swipe again today, and much like yesterday, the bulls managed to fight back pretty well. You gotta give 'em credit.

We'll put the whole thing under the microscope for you in a second. First, we need to work through today's more pressing stock-related news. There's no way we can detail all the important items for you, so we're just going to touch on everything real briefly, and get it done at breakneck speed.

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Good Friday afternoon all, and even though today wasn't necessarily a great one for stocks, today's session caps off what was still another winning week for the market - the tenth winning week in the last eleven for the S&P 500. The same pretty much goes for the Dow and the NASDAQ.

There was something different with today's seemingly-modest selloff though ...there was a ton of volume behind the move. In fact, it was one of the higher-volume days we've seen all year, with considerably more participation behind the selling effort than we've seen on any of the bullish days with this leg of the rally.

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Remember a couple of weeks ago when we said the increase in payroll taxes as of January 1st wouldn't be a big deal? Specifically, we concluded "It's more of a non-issue than an issue, and though taking $110 billion out of consumers' pockets is never a good thing, it doesn't look like it's going to kill the economy the way some pundits are talking like it will."

It was the minority opinion at the time, but we stuck to our guns, knowing that consumers often say one thing and then do another. In this case, we were pretty certain consumers wouldn't reel in their spending in 2013 despite the fact that they're all earning 2% less than they were last year, thanks to an across-the-board increase in income tax rates.

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You know, despite the fact that stocks lost ground today, it's not like Tuesday's dip is a red flag of looming disaster... and this is coming from a guy who's actually on the bearish side of the fence.

On the other hand, not every major correction starts with a dramatic, crystal clear setback. Today may well be a baby step in a new bearish direction.