With the price of oil trading in the high $40's, most oil companies are cutting back on exploration expenses. But oil giant ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) is actually looking to boost its spending.

The company announced last week that it expects to see its capital spending rising over the next few years as it continues to search for new sources for oil.

The canary in the coal mine for the economy is business capital spending.

IT spending? What IT spending?

According to ChangeWave Research surveys, spending is flat or falling.

There are no gee-whiz products to buy and install, the number of employees is shrinking, meaning there are lots of extra computers and spare server capacity lying about. The number of licensees for a software license is shrinking and so on.

What's worse, IT spending is contracting even faster overseas, and these markets account for more than 50% of the revenue for most big U.S. tech outfits.

Be sure to read all 7 reasons the stock market isn't going up any time soon.

Michael Shulman is a contributor to OptionsZone.com.

One of my top holdings, Intuitive Surgical Inc (NASDAQ: ISRG) and favorite stocks is taking a beating this morning and has been along with almost everything else. One of our readers who has been following this story line sent me an email asking what my current thoughts on the subject are. Andrew:

"I'm just curious if you hung on to your ISRG or if you bailed on it... I've been following it since this article, and man, its really heading down to the boiler room... Doctors seeem to be making cuts all over the place, and it looks like ISRG is being taken for a ride... I'm looking at getting in, but maybe if it hits 112 to even as low as sub 100... But I'm curious how you've taken to it?"

As the old saying goes in regards to the stock market, beware trying to catch a falling knife. Regardless, I have been a buyer of late. But first questions first. We did sell 20% of our position for a large gain just under $200 per share, having originally bought in at $7.70. We did not bail out but we did take our original money off the table, and then some.

A housing sector that remains in correction mode, to put it diplomatically; a contracting manufacturing sector; declining auto sales; a pull-back in consumer spending; anemic job growth -- historically, these would signal a no-doubt-about-it easing monetary policy by the U.S. Federal Reserve to stimulate the economy.

But hold on, the nation's economic landscape is not that simple, as Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke would no doubt tell you.

Inflation, at both the consumer and producer levels, is rearing its ugly head. Fanned higher by the near-record price of crude oil, inflation is already above the Federal Reserve's target zone (also called the Fed's "comfort zone"), and is likely to move higher later this year if +$80 per barrel oil persists. (Oil fell $1.90 to $97.28 Friday afternoon on fears of a U.S. recession.)

Jonathan Laing of Barron's did an interview (subscription required) with GaveKal, a global adviser to financial services firms. GaveKal gave some great stats:

• Research & development now dwarfs capital spending -- Danaher Corp.'s research spending has jumped from 150% of capital outlays to 300% during this decade. And Analog Devices has also seen a big jump in its R&D-to-capex ratio, increasing from 1.5-to-1 to 6-to-1 this year. Big increases in R&D and the shift of manufacturing to Asia will continue to translate into a more productive U.S. corporation.
• Concerns about consumer debt levels -- mortgage, credit card and auto debt has plunged from 6% of totals outstanding at the beginning of the 1990s to 1.5% to 2.5% the past few years.
• Corporate profits remain very strong -- after-tax profits and cash flow as a percentage of GDP exceed 8.5% and 15%, respectively -- very high by historical standards.
• Trade Deficit at 7% of GDP -- not a concern when measured against U.S. total household net worth which grows about $2.5 trillion per year. A traded deficit of $800 billion is more than offset by growth in U.S. net household wealth.
• Net foreign debt as a percentage of national net worth is only 4.6%.
• The earning-yield and dividends for stocks earn investors 9% versus 6% for private equity to borrow money. That is what is fueling the private equity boom. Stocks should do well as long as this disparity exists.
  

Laing titled his piece Sizzle Inc, referring to GaveKal's optimistic outlook. The premise behind the positive outlook is that the global economy is "on a cusp of a decades-long" deflationary boom. It is a very compelling argument to invest in U.S. stocks.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Apple reported that it plans to spend $700 million this fiscal year on such things as new stores, real estate, and technology infrastructure. Only two months ago it reported that it planned to spend $420 million. Last year it spent $260 million on capital expenditures.

That's a serious increase, but it seems investors aren't too worried about it. The stock recently reached $72, up 87 cents (1.2%) on a banner day for stocks.

Much of the increase -- $265 million -- has to do with Apple's plans to build a second campus in Cupertino and also add a new data center.