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Happy Monday everyone. I'm not sure if you were ready to start the new week or not (I know I wasn't), but here it is all the same. And, it kicked off with plenty of news to stir the market's pot.

First and foremost, I'm sure you saw headlines that the Federal Reserve may finally be looking for a way to put the brakes on its quantitative easing via its bond-buying program.

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Welcome to the weekend. Well, almost. We've got a little time left in the workweek, and a few pieces of business to take care of.

"I expect there will be many more"

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Is everyone enjoying their lazy (for the market anyway) Thursday? Mild weather, mild movement from stocks, not much in the way of economic news... a perfect recipe for stepping away from your trader's role for an afternoon and doing whatever it is you do for fun. For me, that's bad golf, but I'm just as big of a fan as sitting back and enjoying some sun.

For those of you who are truly addicted to the market though, there's never any rest - so-called "down time" is a reason to study and find new opportunities. Well, I've got one such idea for you today that I believe would be a GREAT place to park some money as we wade waist-deep into what could be a lethargic or even a modestly-bearish summer.

That idea? Regional banks.

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I'm sure most of you will recall we've talked about J.C. Penney (JCP) more than a few times of late, mentioning in passing that we were still bullish back on April 26th, but diving into a bullish stance neck-deep back on April 9th. It's been a nutty ride the whole time, but with JCP shares up 27% since our first table-pounding look, we're not complaining.

A thought occurred to me as I was scouring today's batch of headlines about J.C. Penney though - it's probably been really, really tough for you to get excited enough about the stock's potential to actually take on a trade. The media has been merciless for weeks now (as in an angry mob with pitchforks and torches), and that didn't change today. So how can we be so optimistic? I'll be glad to tell you, but first things first.

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Happy Friday everyone, and if you're a horse racing fan, it's the beginning of a very exciting weekend. The Kentucky Derby is being run at Churchill Down on Saturday, and this year's race should shape up as a good one.

For what it's worth, I like Orb and Verrazano. Then again, who doesn't? They're the favored, and as such aren't really positioned for any kind of big betting payoff should they do well. Though they're a bit of a long shot, I've got a feeling Normandy Invasion, Revolutionary, and Vyjack could end up doing surprisingly well. And, the payoffs would actually be worth the risk.