ExxonMobil shares drop on reports of SEC investigation

ExxonMobil shares drop on reports of SEC investigation

Shares of ExxonMobil (XOM) closed down 4.81% today on a Wall Street Journal report that the Securities & Exchange Commission was investigating a whistleblower complaint alleging that the company overvalued assets in the Permian Basin oil shale geology. The whistleblower complaint alleges that during a 2019 internal assessment workers were forced to use unrealistic assumptions about how quickly wells could be drilled to reach a higher valuation.

Saudis surprise OPEC; oil soars by 5%

Saudis surprise OPEC; oil soars by 5%

Today, January 5, Saudi Arabia shocked OPEC+ with a voluntary 1-million-barrel-per-day output cut. The announcement came after OPEC and Russia agreed to allow a 75,000 barrels a day increase in total production from Russia and Kazakhstan in February and March. On the news U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate climbed 5.00% to $50 a barrel and international benchmark Brent gained 5.05% to $53.67 a barrel.

Saturday Night Quarterback says, For the week ahead expect…

Saturday Night Quarterback says, For the week ahead expect…

So much news. And so much that has the potential to move the financial markets. Let’s start on the economic side, ok? Monday we get reports on personal income and inflation. And on the earnings side? Lots and lots of reports that could change the tone of this market. The biggest are Microsoft, (MSFT), PayPal (PYPL) and Facebook (FB) on Wednesday January 31 and then Alphabet (GOOG), Apple (AAPL) and Amazon (AMZN) on Thursday, February 1.