Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Gaining, Europe Falls On Italian Political Fears

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded up 0.18 percent to 13,178.17 while the NASDAQ rose 0.31 percent to 2,987.38. The S&P also rose, increasing 0.04 percent to 1,418.66.

Concerns over the fiscal cliff came to the forefront once again this morning as investors continued to voice frustration over Washington's lack of action. Compounded with the volatility in the euro zone, macro trading looked to be a volatile play early on Monday.

Nexen

rallied 14.46 percent to $26.92at the market opening Monday after it was announced that Canada had opened a pipeline to China. Shares of Molycorp

shot up 9.06 percent in early trading to $9.75 following some insider buys on Friday. Crosstex Energy

gained 5.51 percent to $13.20 after appearing on Barron's list of favorite stocks for 2013 this weekend.

GrafTech International

took a 9.56 percent hit Monday morning, falling to $8.71 after the company after Jefferies cut the company to Hold from Buy and lowered its price target from $15 to $9. Sturm Ruger

dropped as well, trading down 4.94 percent to $48.90, continuing its fall linked to other gun stocks on Friday. Shares of SandRidge Energy

were also down, falling 3.70 percent to $7.02, continuing its impressive rally off the lows last week.

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.23 percent to $86.13, while gold traded up 0.52 percent to $1,712.80. Silver traded up 0.26 percent Friday to $33.32.

In the euro zone, Italian banks took a hit as a political crisis in the country looms over the markets. As for the markets themselves, they fell sharply at the open, reflecting traders' fears over the coming political crisis in Italy. Leading the fall were Italian indexes, but closely followed by the Spanish Ibex, with German and French indexes taking a hit as well.

There were no major economic releases Monday.