News of possible progress in Europe boosted stocks this morning until the S&P came out placing core EU countries on credit watch negative. The ratings agency issues a stern warning to countries such as Germany that if they did not get their fiscal house in order they were subject to a downgrade to AA+ within 90 days. The major indices sold off on the news but recovered late as end of day buying came into the market. The Dow finished up 78 points while the Nasdaq added 29.

Asia markets are currently feeling the downward pull of the downgrade news with Japanese markets edging lower. All eyes continue to be focused on Europe as leaders in the core EU countries struggle to formulate a solution to sovereign debt crisis. Traders should also be wary of any volatility emanating out of the Middle East as Iran continues to saber rattle and Syria edges closer to full-blown civil war.

Stocks to watch in pre-market action on Tuesday include Taleo Corporation (NASDAQ:TELO), Affymax, Inc. (NASDAQ: AFFY), Frontline Ltd. (NYSE:FRO), Ariba Inc. (NASDAQ:ARBA), Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO), Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM).

Taleo Corporation (NASDAQ:TLEO) closed Monday up 19.84% at $39.50. TLEO traded 5.1 million shares today, well above the 460 thousand shares it trades on average. TLEO stock is up today following the SAP deal with SuccessFactors Inc. (NYSE:SFSF). This deal sent most cloud-based companies up today. Over the past five trading days, TLEO has moved up from below $32 to nearly $40 a share. Taleo Corp has a market cap of 1.64 billion.

Affymax, Inc. (NASDAQ:AFFY) ended the day up 19.24% at $6.26. AFFY traded 4.2 million shares today, more than 4 times its daily average volume. AFFY’s big jump today came after the FDA said the company’s experimental anemia drug works as well as drugs sold by Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) for patients with chronic kidney disease. Affymax has a market cap of 223.67 million.

Frontline Ltd. (NYSE:FRO) closed Monday up 16.45% at $3.54. FRO traded 3.4 million shares today, higher than its daily average of 2.6 million shares. Over the past week, FRO is up from $2.70 to nearly $3.60. Frontline has a current market cap of 275.62 million.

Ariba Inc. (NASDAQ:ARBA) finished the day up 14.31% at $33.95. ARBA traded 2.8 million shares on Monday and trades 895 thousand shares a day on average. Ariba is another company that went up today thanks to the SAP deal for SuccessFactors Inc. ARBA has moved up $5 a share over the past week. The company has a market cap of 3.18 billion.

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) closed Monday up 1.29% at $18.79. CSCO traded 43.5 million shares today and trades 58.5 million shares a day on average. CSCO is up $1 a share over the past five trading sessions. The company plans to host a live webcast tomorrow to discuss their cloud strategy and new technologies to enable cloud providers to build, manage and connect private, public and hybrid clouds. The company has a market cap of 101.01 billion.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) finished the day up slightly at $196.24, a gain of 0.11%. AMZN traded 5.9 million shares today and trades 7 million shares a day on average. AMZN continues to ride the wave of good Black Friday sales and great Kindle sales. The stock is up nearly $10 a share from its low last Thursday of $188. Amazon.com has a market cap of 89.24 billion.

Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) closed Monday up 0.83% at $80.45. XOM traded 18.2 million shares today and trades 23.8 million shares a day on average. XOM has traded higher the past week moving up from $76 last week to $81 earlier today. The company has a current market cap of 385.61 billion.