The stock market continued its run of positive showings early Monday morning, as ongoing concerns over the sovereign debt situation in Europe failed to take the steam out of U.S. stocks. The Dow Jones Industrials (INDEX: ^DJI) were up 36 points to 12,757 after having finished up on all four days of last week's holiday-shortened activity. The S&P 500 (INDEX: ^GSPC) rose seven points to 1,322.

Among the Dow's top gainers was Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), which was up almost 4% in early trading. The bank extended its stretch of strong performance following its earnings announcement last week, in which B of A turned a profit and revealed favorable results in its bid to shed non-core operations and cut costs.

Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) also gained ground, rising almost 2%. The tech giant made a minor announcement about its home subscriber server, which an Austrian communications service company is using for its LTE network. News of a big shakeup at the top of Research In Motion may also have investors looking for more solid tech plays, despite recent changes at the helm for HP as well.

On the losing side, Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) fell almost 2% early. Analyst Stifel Nicolaus downgraded the company in advance of the latter's earnings release this Friday. The analyst kept its $70 price target on the stock, which is about 8% above where the shares are trading now.

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