Did everyone have a good weekend?I hope so. If not, maybe we can give you something exciting to start the new workweek with... a new trading idea. First though, let's dig into today's market action. If there was any lingering doubt about how serious the bears were, today's trading session wiped it away. That's why we're going to be short and sweet today and let the chart do most of the talking. Take a look. The S&P 500 is now starting to put some distance between it and its 50-day moving average line, and the VIX finally made its way above its 50-day moving average line on Monday too. If the bulls were going to put up a fight, they would have done so by now. I do think there will be a bullish pushback sometime this week, maybe even as soon as tomorrow. Just don't interpret it as a sign that the bigger rally is back in motion. It'll take a lot more than one or two good days to undo the damage that's been done within just the past week. This looks like the beginning of a long overdue correction, As for where the bleeding will stop, our first checkpoint target is still around 1560. That's roughly where the bottom was made in June, and it's also a key level in ways I can't get into today. Maybe I'll look at those lines later this week for you. And by 'checkpoint' target, I just mean that's where will reassess the health of the pullback, since that's where the bulls are apt to give the bears their first real test. We'll worry about it when the times comes though. Right now, we've got some stock-pickin' business to take care of. A Brand Spankin' New Pick As much as I'd like to be clever and coy with my introduction of today's pick to you, we just don't have time or room. So, here goes - it's Kearny Financial (KRNY). There, wasn't that easy? For those of you who aren't familiar with Kearny, it's a New Jersey-based bank.... well, a savings and loan, to be specific. It's got a market cap of $690 million, did $100 million in revenue last fiscal year, and turned about $5.1 million of it into a profit. It turned a profit of about $6.5 million this year, which ended in June. It should generate similar growth over the course of the next twelve months. If you're thinking the valuation metrics make for a weak fundamental bullish argument, you're right - you can find better-priced stocks than the P/E of 106 that KRNY is currently sporting. Thing is, the fundamentals behind this stock are the least of the reasons I like it now. For better or worse, we like the underlying story with Kearny Financial. As is the case with most "story stocks" though, you'll want to keep it on a short leash simply because with story stocks, the market's mood can stop and turn on a dime. They're worth the risk and trouble, however, because given the right situation, these stories can also push otherwise-mediocre stocks to the stratosphere. Will that happen with KRNY? We don't know, but we like the odds. To make the long story short, Kearny Financial was - and is still is - mostly unknown, at least as far as the market is concerned. It's been in business for years, but outside of New Jersey, nobody knew or cared. It's a good bank though, and the 'story' here is the fact that investors are just now starting to discover - and believe in - the company. It's got no analyst coverage yet, and unless I'm mistaken, the 'strong buy' from Zacks back in June was the first time any analytical firm has seemed to even care about it. If history repeats itself, however, interest, bullishness, and buying activity should accelerate from here now that the story's getting starting to get traction. Buyers seem to have faith that earnings will fall in line with the stock's price eventually, so I don't see the frothy valuation being a problem for us. The risk here - and I still haven't decided if it's actually a risk to Kearny or not - is the impact rising interest rates will have on loan demand. The well-known pundits like to make the logical argument that higher interest payments will price some (ok, a lot) of would-be home and auto-borrowers out of the market. I can't say I've actually seen that to be the root cause of dried-up loan demand though. Usually it's just a lousy economy that does the trick. Even if higher interest rates do crimp loan demand though, there's a flipside to that situation... it increases demand (checking and savings) deposits at banks, and widens banks' net margins; the higher interest rates are, the greater the spread between what banks earn on loans and what they have to pay their depositors. Point being, I still see more upside ahead no matter what rates do. With all of that being said, I'd be kidding you and myself if I said it wasn't the chart that I liked the most about KRNY. Just so there's no misunderstanding, this isn't an investment - this is a trade, and a speculative one at that. What I'm expecting to see now that the stock's story is being propagated is the chart putting the proverbial pedal to metal. We're already in a bullish channel after spending most of 2011 and 2012 trapped under the $10.00 mark. More recently we've seen support at the 200-day moving average line. It's all technically bullish. Putting it all together, we know the uptrend is in place - from here we just need to see one more good pop to get the bullish fire roaring. Given the back-story, however, we've got plenty of potential catalysts. The biggest worry I have with KRNY is a marketwide correction pulling it lower. But, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. If you're diving in, keep a very short leash (i.e. a tight stop) on it.... though it fared pretty well today, all things considered. It's just another idea to add to our current (and admittedly small) list of open hypothetical trades. We've still got Xerox (XRX), Commercial Metals (CMC), Northwest Pipe (NWPX), and Manitex International (MNTX). For what it's worth, Manitex is still on the bubble, but the support at $10.00 has been holding up. So, we'll leave it alone - meaning we'll keep holding it - for now. Northwest Pipe has also started to make the recovery I expected it to make, pushing off the key 100-day moving average line and crossing back above some key levels this week. That brings us back to about a 5% gain since our June 28th suggestion, but like I said then, I'm looking for more from the water-infrastructure name. We entered it with a short-term perspective, but we also entered it with a willingness to make it a long-term position if the situation called for it. I still haven't decided if it calls for it yet. Well, there you've got five ideas. It's not very many is it? It's especially not many if you don't pull the trigger on all of the suggestions we send out to you... definitely not enough to populate a portfolio anyway. If you want more, then I can't recommend strongly enough that you check out the trades the SmallCap Network Elite Opportunity service is sending out on a regular basis. As of right now, the SCN EO's got eleven open trades on its plate, and most all of 'em look pretty good. One of those positions is up a whopping 60%, which - incredibly enough - isn't all that surprising. John Monroe and his team over at the SmallCap Network Elite Opportunity scored more than a 70% gain on AMD just a few weeks ago. Kinda makes you wonder what the next whale-sized trade is going to be. More than that, it makes you wonder when he's going to find it. If for some reason the SCN EO's next mega-winner is picked within the next two weeks, would you like to find out how you can learn what it is (in time to do something about it) for free? Just take the two-week test drive. Or, you can hear me tell you about the trade after the fact here in the free newsletter. Your call. Here's how. Or, copy and paste the following link in your browser: http://www.smallcapnetwork.com/?vmpd_ckstr[click_track]=SCN+Newsletter&vmpd_ckstr_redirect=/pages/SCNEO/v1/ OK, that's it for today. Everybody have a good one. We'll be right back here tomorrow.