Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Markets Continue to Rise, Diamond Foods Falls

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded up 0.21 percent to 13,182.78 while the NASDAQ rose 0.24 percent to 2,985.24. The S&P also rose, increasing 0.06 percent to 1,418.99. Top Headline
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. Equities Trading UP
Nexen NXY rallied 13.99 percent to $26.81 at the market opening Monday after it was announced that Canada had opened a pipeline to China. Shares of Molycorp MCP shot up 19.44 percent to $10.68 following some insider buys on Friday. Infinity Pharmaceuticals INFI was also up, gaining 19.91 percent to $27.01 after releasing favorable phase 1 data from one of its trials this morning. Equities Trading DOWN
GrafTech International GTI took an 8.20 percent hit Monday, falling to $8.84 after the company after Jefferies cut the company to Hold from Buy and lowered its price target from $15 to $9. Diamond Foods DMND was also down, falling 9.86 percent to $13.35 following an earnings miss on Friday. Shares of Deckers Outdoors DECK fell 7.30 percent to $39.64 as investors showed a loss of confidence in the owner of the Ugg brand. Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 0.34 percent to $85.64, while gold traded up 0.46 percent to $1,711.80. Silver traded up 0.16 percent Friday to $33.21. Euro zone
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. Economics
There were no major economic releases Monday.