Exxon Mobil (XOM) is a leading independent oil and gas exploration and production company; it competes with other major oil companies like Anadarko (APC), BP (BP), Chevron (CVX) and ConocoPhillips (COP).

The recent political turmoil in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya, which is slowly spreading to other Middle Eastern and North African countries is likely to have an impact on Exxon Mobil's production capacity. This is because the company derives the majority of its revenues from production of crude oil and natural gas liquids (NGLs), and the Middle East and North Africa regions account for a sizable portion of its portfolio.

Tech stocks were mostly higher today. The broader indexes of the DJIA and S&P 500 were too close to call until the final minutes of trading. The markets were just that choppy today, even despite the rise seen in Asian markets.

Here were today's closing bell levels:

Dow Jones 12,268.19 -5.07 (-0.04%)
S&P 500 1,332.32 +3.17 (0.24%)
Nasdaq 2,817.18 +7.74 (0.28%)

Top Analyst Calls

For investors, the emerging markets have been a great place to find profits. No doubt, there are certainly risks, such as seen recently with the market turmoil in Egypt, but a diversified portfolio should solve these problems. Of course, it also helps to have lots of exposure to markets like China and Brazil.

According to Societe Generale, emerging markets may pale in comparison to the growth in commodities. Interestingly enough, it is rising commodities prices that is putting inflationary pressure on these countries. In other words, it is getting tougher for companies to pass along higher raw materials costs. As a result, there has been a rash of interest rate increases.

China has raised interest rates to dampen inflation. The turmoil in Egypt has subsided a bit. In addition, we have record supplies of oil in storage facilities at Cushing, Oklahoma.

There have been no disruptions of oil flows in the Suez Canal and the pipeline that connects the Red Sea and the Mediterranean.

The price of March crude fell $1.13 per barrel to $86.35, as reported by Reuters. Brent crude fell $1.33 cents per barrel to $97.86. The premium of Brent over West Texas Intermediate (WTI) widened to $11.00 per barrel. What that shows is that demand in Europe, which uses Brent is strong, while demand here in the U.S. is weak.

I realize it goes without saying, but times are tough for American auto makers, really tough in fact, and for Ford (NYSE: F), the company does not see things changing any time soon, and is predicting another disastrous month for December sales for the ailing auto industry.

The company announced today that it believes when final December sales figures are released, we are going to see a horrible month, with Ford estimating that industry-wide, December sales will probably be around 35% lower than the same period last year.

When you consider the estimated December numbers you can start to get a feel for just how bad 2008 has been. Consider this: in 2007, industry-wide sales of light vehicles in America totaled 16.2 million. In 2008, that number is expected to drop dramatically down to around 13.2 million light vehicles in reaction to lower consumer spending and tightened credit lending.

Just call Apache a buying opportunity extraordinaire. Oil/gas exploration and development company Apache (NYSE: APA) has dipped about $10 from 52-week highs around $107.50 to about $97, due to oil's recent pull-back.

As a result, APA's p/e is down to about 15. A p/e of 15 may not seem that cheap, but given Apache's upside potential -- it is. Look for Apache to continue to achieve solid growth through internal investment and acquisitions. Apache has several key exploration discoveries set to enter development stage and will drill nine wells in Canada this winter as part of its oil shale operations.

Overall, analysts see Apache's oil and gas volumes increasing about 10%-12% in 2007 and 2008. Even better: the company believes it can generate double-digit production growth for the next decade. The Reuters F2007/F2008 EPS consensus estimates for APA are $7.54/$8.84.