And so ends the first half of 2014. And what a first half it was! All told, the S&P 500 is up 6.1% year-to-date, which technically makes it the leader for the year so far. The NASDAQ is running a close second though, with 5.6% gain since the end of 2013. Most of those gains were achieved in the second quarter. In fact, Q2 of this year was the best second-quarter since 2009. The $64,000 question is, of course, where are things apt to go from here? The market is still overbought, and complacency is still dangerously high. Could the beginning of a new calendar quarter also mean the introduction of a whole new mindset for the market? It remains to be decided. Based on what we can see right now, however, I'm still voting for at least a small pullback. I honestly don't know how much of Monday's lethargy we can blame on the technical end of the calendar quarter, but I'd say quite a bit. With or without the uneventful session, however, I just get the feeling stocks are struggling to hold up under the weight of their recent gains. Today's doji bar indicates indecision, which is the beginning of transition. It's also becoming clear the S&P 500 has developed resistance at 1966. Throw in the fact that the VIX (for the most part) appears to be pointed upward now, and it doesn't look like July is getting started on the right foot. But hey, you know what? It's all just theory at this point. Until the S&P 500 actually moves under the 20-day moving average line at 1950 and until the VIX finally pushes above its ceiling around 12.5, my bearish prognostication is little more than an idea. The Russell 2000 and the NASDAQ both closed higher on Monday, while the Dow and the S&P 500 didn't. It once again tells us there's a something of a "risk on" mentality out there on the market's landscape, which is bullish. Be sure to check back tomorrow. The new calendar month could and the beginning of the back half of the year could bring about some serious changes. More Names We (Almost) Like Yes, we found a few names we want to add to our watchlist today from the scans we ran this weekend. None of them are officially going into the portfolio here, but if you decided to pull the trigger on any of these trading possibilities, you probably wouldn't be alone. In no particular order... Carrols Restaurant Group (TAST) is major operator of Burger King franchises... 560 units in all. The company's seen big growth for the past couple of years, and is expected to see more growth in the foreseeable figure. It's not profitable yet, and isn't apt to be anytime soon. It's making big progress to that end though, with last year's loss of 47 cents per share expected to shrink to a loss of only 36 cents per share this year to a loss of only 14 cents per share expected in 2015. It's still not quite what you want to see from a company, but the pace of progress towards profitability is starting to draw some trade-worthy interest. That's why we've seen a steady string of higher lows and higher highs here since early 2013. I've got a feeling it's leading up to a monster-sized surge now that we're seeing support at all the key moving average lines. Carrols Restaurant Group is the closest of the three to being trade-ready. We'll let you know if we make it an official pick. Some of you in the northeast may be familiar with Westfield Financial (WFD). Some of you may even be customers of the regional bank. Whatever the case, we're interested in watching the stock to see how it develops from here. Westfield doesn't exactly do much publicity to help its cause, though when it does garner publicity, it means something. March's announcement let us know the company was aiming to repurchase 10% of its shares, and last week's big news was an expansion of its business lending business. And, we've seen multi-year progress on the revenue and income front. Whatever the case, though a volatile mess since 2011, one of these bullish thrusts is eventually going to remain in motion. Maybe Friday's and today's high-volume jump will be the one that does the trick, although I'd really like to see what happens when the bears start to push back a little. Safeguard Scientifics (SFE) isn't exactly what its name suggests. The company is a private equity and venture capital firm. It's a little bit out of our normal wheelhouse, but opportunity is opportunity. Just bear in mind this would be a long-term investment rather than a short-term trade. Before it's even an investment though, we'd like to see the budding uptrend from the chart firm up.... which means it may need to cool off first. We'll see, although it's the least compelling of the three most compelling ideas getting put on the radar this afternoon. As always though, if you're looking for the market's very best trading ideas - with crystal clear entries and exits - the Elite Opportunity is the way to go. If my count is right, John Monroe and his team have picked 38 stocks for the year so far, versus probably a dozen or so new stock picks for you here in the free newsletter. Moreover, I may never pull the trigger on any of the ideas we added to the watchlist today, whereas the EO seems to have at least one new pick every few days. Sorry about that, but what can I say? Picking stocks is just kind of a side project for us here in the newsletter, but it's a full-time effort for the Elite Opportunity service. And perhaps more importantly, John and his team are good at their job. You can even put them to the test by utilizing the EO's offer for a free two-week trial. Here's how to get it, or cut and paste this link: https://www.smallcapnetwork.com/?vmpd_ckstr[click_track]=Newsletter&vmpd_ckstr_redirect=/pages/SCNEO/v1/ The Good Stuff There was a big dose of great content posted at the site today. If you're not a regular visitor of the site, here's the best of the best of what you missed. It's that time of year again.... summertime, and the 4th of July in particular. A cold beer somehow seems to taste better when its hot outside on a holiday, which puts beer companies in a sweet spot. John Udovich takes a close look at some of the biggest beer stocks out there. For those of you who are biotech speculators, you undoubtedly saw recent news that Mannkind (MNKD) has finally won approval for Afrezza. Before you plow into the stock based on the good news though, Bryan Murphy has some thoughts on why you may want to wait. Last but not least, James Brumley updated his bullish outlook on Facebook (FB), Twitter (TWTR), and LinkedIn (LNKD) today. The whole group has been moving higher for a while, and each of them has broken past more key resistance levels in the meantime. That's it for today, folks. And, don't forget - the U.S. soccer team plays Belgium tomorrow, at 4 pm EST. Even if you're not a big soccer fan, the intensity of the games at this stage of the tournament is palpable.