The new joint-venture formed by Exxon-Mobil (XOM), Chevron (CVX), ConocoPhilips (COP) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) as a rapid response system to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill is best characterized as too little, too late.

The companies have initially committed a measly $1 billion to the force. A fund with a starting point of $20 billion-$30 billion would have been more appropriate and practical. The enormity and complexity of the BP's (BP) Deepwater Horizon oil spill demonstrates how quickly a contain-and-cap operation can shoot over $1 billion. Oil fell 56 cents to $78.74 per barrel in Friday morning trading.

While other earnings may have disappointed last week, the news was good for oil giant ConocoPhilips (NYSE: COP). In what some took as a good sign for big oil, the Houston-based company reported that third quarter net income surged 41% year over year to $3.39 per share, and that revenue also surged 52% to $70 billion. We'll see whether the good news extends to other petroleum giants scheduled to report quarterly results this week.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial are looking for BP (NYSE: BP) profits to have grown 43.2% in the most recent quarter to $2.34 per share on revenue of $109.7 billion, and Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) to post earnings up 39.4% to $3.25 per share on revenue of $86.8 billion. Marathon Oil Corp. (NYSE: MRO), ExxonMobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM), and Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS.A) likewise are expected to report higher net income of $2.33 per share (sales of $23.4 billion), $2.40 per share (sales of $131.4 billion), and $2.65 per share, respectively. Even Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) is expected to post earnings slightly higher to $1.46 per share (sales of $36.4 billion), despite the effects of Hurricane Ike. Among these companies, only BP and Valero beat earnings expectations in the previous quarter. Not surprisingly, analysts on average recommend buying all except Valero, and shares of all of these companies have recently hit 52-week lows.

As we look ahead to tomorrow morning's earning report from Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) the stock has yet again set a new all time high in today's market. After opening the day at $78.84, shares of XOM hit a new all time high of $80.20 and are currently trading up 1.9% to $80.07. The company announced earlier today that it was raising its dividend by 9.4% to 35 cents, up from 32 cents.

At this point it seems pretty clear that the DOW is going to be closing above 13,000 for the first time in its history, and it seems fitting that the company with the largest market cap should also be treading new waters. Exxon Mobil currently ranks #1 in size with a total market cap of $455.3 billion.

XOM stock has definitely been scorching lately. Even with the stock being hit with multiple downgrades this week, traders just keep pushing shares higher. The whole investing world is going to paying close attention to tomorrow's earning release. Should the company come through again with another upside surprise look for the stock price to be headed to the high $80's over the next couple of weeks.

I will be posting the results of tomorrow's earnings release as soon as they become available. Also be sure to check in at 11 AM EST as I will be liveblogging the current earnings conference call. I will have live updates throughout the entire call.

Michael Fowlkes has worked as a stock trader for seven years and spent the last two years working as an analyst for the online investment advisory service Investor's Observer.

DISCLOSURE: Mr. Fowlkes owns and/or controls diversified portfolios of long and short stock and option positions that include holdings in XOM.

This post is based on an article written by Alexander Green, Investment Director of The Oxford Club. My thanks to Mr. Green for his straightforward insight.

Let me begin by stating that my only argument against the oil industry has been their "the only game in town" attitude. Never have I complained that oil companies show too much profit. I have never accused the oil industry of gouging or unjust profiteering. With that stated, let us continue:

Oil companies DO NOT set gasoline prices at the pump. Those prices are dictated entirely by supply and demand economics. The single biggest driving force in the economics of crude oil today is the increasing demand by growing industrialized nations, China being the biggest by far. Even the United States Supreme Court declared that they find no evidence that oil companies are manipulating oil prices in any undue manner. This issue will, of course, remain in hot public debate.

I've been knocked around a bit for coming out full tilt against Big Oil. I do realize that when I take my stance against crude oil, in some ways I'm taking a stance against trillions of dollars of modern economics. The fact that the modern world is built upon petroleum is not lost on me. But that doesn't mean that I have to agree with or like it. So those of you who have the mind to, please invest a couple minutes to read what more I have to say on the subject. Perhaps you'll be enlightened to some things you never thought about or at the very least you may have more reason to consider me "a bit off center."

First I'd like to ask, why are the supporters of Big Oil trapped into this thinking that seems to claim: In ten years everything will be just like it is now, with the exception that it will be like that in more places? What kind of limited logic is that? Someone wrote to tell me that 15 million Chinese will be needing cars soon. That's just fine with me, but it takes gall to suggest that all those Chinese need cars with gasoline-fired internal combustion engines! Is it so hard to believe that an effective electric car is not only possible but is here already? Does no one think that Chinese citizens might like electric cars? Has anyone considered the contrasts between American industrialization and that of the Chinese? Is it insanity to think that electricity can be generated without petroleum?

Get a grip you guys! Life isn't relegated to 55 gallon drums!!! Those same anti-anti oil individuals like to accuse me of conspiracy thinking when I claim that the price of crude is regularly manipulated. They state that oil prices are strictly market driven. Excuse me, but don't they read the papers? OPEC whispers "oil production cut back" and the price per barrel rises without any change in the actual flow of the precious black stuff. Umm, are you getting it yet? And what about the virtual moratorium on production of domestic crude? Has everyone forgotten that we have oil reserves also? The Sierra Club has done a fine job of helping to curtail domestic oil production statistics. I see some conflicts.

For general and main news here is the first morning post.

Sirius Satellite Radio, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI) reported third-quarter financial results this morning. The company's loss narrowed as revenue more than doubled because of a surge in subscribers. Sirius reported a loss of $162.9 million, or 12 cents per share on revenue of $167.1 million, while analysts were looking for a loss of 14 cents per share. SIRI shares are up nearly 2.5% in pre-market trading. The company left its outlook unchanged.

TheStreet.com examines the different alliances and industry players when it comes to downloaded content. The possible talks between Verizon (NYSE:VZ) and Google, Inc.'s NASDAQ:GOOG) YouTube, Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) offering TV shows and movies through its Xbox and Apple Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) iTV platform. Microsoft, the article concludes, might yet be the winner despite competition from TiVO (NASDAQ:TIVO) and possibly from Sony Corp. (NYSE:SNE) as well.

Later yesterday we also heard of a deal between no. 2 chip maker, Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE:AMD), and no. 2 worldwide (no. 1 in the U.S.) computer maker, Dell, Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) to supply the latter with chips -- Athlon 64 X2 dual-core microprocessors to be exact --for its line of desktop PCs sold to medium to large business customers.

After rumors have been going around for months of what eBay, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:EBAY) strategy in China is, today we learned that eBay Eachnet (eBay China) and Chinese Internet search company Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU) would collaborate. While Baidu will promote PayPal's China service, Beibao, EachNet will use Baidu exclusively for its search advertising. The companies will also develop a co-branded toolbar.

Reports today say that Germany's DaimlerChrysler AG (NYSE:DCX) plans to invest about 2.5 billion rupees ($55 million) to build a second auto plant in India. The move comes three months after General Motors Corp. (NYSE:GM) announced a similar intention.

Someone else is investing in India, this time it's Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE:KO) which plans to invest $250 million in its Indian bottling arm, according to the Economic Times paper.

Still in India, Microsoft Corp.'s (NASDAQ:MSFT) CEO met with Indian Prime Minister, as Microsoft struck an alliance to provide Internet search to customers of one of the country's leading cell-phone carriers.

Google, Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has decided to try the radio. It is hiring radio sales people and is spending heavily in a bid to expand its position in the $20 billion radio industry.

McDonald's Corp. (NYSE:MCD) U.S. comparable sales rose 5.6% in October due to its breakfast business, Snack Wrap products and the Monopoly game promotion.

Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:TWX) is now pulling out of China, ending a joint venture cinema in China it had opened four years ago, citing Beijing tightening restrictions on foreign investors.

Finally, Big Oil won the elections in California after Californians rejected a proposition that would have taxed oil companies and used the money to fund renewable energy.

Is the price of oil going up or down? Certainly OPEC wants it to rise, and it is cutting production 1.2 million barrels a day to try to raise the price. If this production cut doesn't work, some OPEC members are prepared for another one.

So far, however, talk of the OPEC cut has not sent oil prices back up. On Friday oil traded at under $57 a barrel. On Monday it continued to fall.

No one on Wall Street expects the oil companies to do poorly when they announce Q3 earnings, but their profits may no longer be rising quarter-over-quarter. If oil prices stay below $60, Q3 may be the beginning of a disappointing series of financial results for the likes of ExxonMobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM), Conoco, and Chevron.

The anxiety that oil prices could hurt big oil earnings is not really showing up in the stock prices of the big producers. But a tumble may be in their future nevertheless. Exxon's stock is at $69.55, very near its 52-week high and up from under $56 in December. Chevron's stock is also within a couple of dollars of its 52-week high of just under $70.

The perception of where crude oil is likely to be in the near future (relatively low) and where the big oil stock prices trade (high) is going to have to be reconciled. It is probably the stock prices that will lose.

Douglas McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.