Who said big oil was a dying business? Fortune has released its Global 500, their "annual ranking of the world's largest corporations," and topping the charts is Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS.A), which, much like a Mariah Carey song, bumped up into the coveted number-one slot after some time at number three. The Netherlands-based oil company trumped its U.S. rival, Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) by $15 billion in sales and saw its revenue spike nearly 29% from 2007.

Speaking of Exxon, the company once again had a tiger in its tank, ranking number two in the world as oil futures bounced around in a nearly $100-dollar range, hitting $146 per barrel at its heights.

Suncor Energy (NYSE: SU) is a vertically-integrated oil company located in Canada. Unlike its vertically-integrated brethren in the United States, this Canadian stock is up more than 40% this year. By comparison, Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) is down 13%, and ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) is down more than 20%.

The reason for the big difference in performance is the weakness in the dollar. That makes Canadian-based Suncor more valuable to investors.

Analyst upgrades:

• Morgan Stanley upgraded Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK) to Overweight from Equal Weight as they expect the company to benefit from higher natural gas prices in 2010. The firm has a $34 target on shares.
• Citigroup upgraded Energy Conversion (NASDAQ: ENER) to Hold from Sell on valuation is it finds the risk/reward balanced at current levels. The firm raised its target price to $16 from $13.
• Jefferies upgraded Lifetime Brands (NASDAQ: LCUT) to Buy from Underperform to reflect reduced liquidity concerns and an improved outlook for Global Direct Sellers. The firm raised its target price to $4 from $2.
• American Eagle (NYSE: AEO) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.
• TJX Companies (NYSE: TJX) was upgraded at Barclays to Overweight from Equal Weight and to Outperform from Netural at Credit Suisse.
• STEC Inc (NASDAQ: STEC) was raised to Overweight from Market Weight at Thomas Weisel.

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) Q1 profit edged past expectations despite lower sales of Humira.
• AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR) posted a smaller-than-expected Q1 loss, sending shares sharply higher.
• Baxter International Inc. (NYSE: BAX) reported better-than-expected Q1 earnings, sending share higher.
• BP (NYSE: BP) and other oil companies were downgraded due to higher environmental costs.
• Charles Schwab Corp. (NASDAQ: SCHW) Q1 earnings declined but still topped analysts' expectations.
• Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) said Q1 earnings would be lower due to a weaker dollar and lower oil prices.

Analyst upgrades:

• Banc of America/Merrill upgraded Gymboree (NASDAQ:GYMB) to Buy from Underperform and raised their target to $33 from $15 following the company's Q1 comparable store sales guidance.
  
• Oppenheimer upgraded Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) to Outperform from Perform after channel checks indicated the company's shipments are gaining momentum. The firm raised their price target on the stock to $35 from $20.
  
• Owens & Minor (NYSE:OMI) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse. The firm upgraded shares but lowered their target to $45 from $46 citing underappreciated earnings growth and valuation.
• Albermarle (NYSE:ALB) was upgraded to Conviction Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
  
• Protective Life (NYSE:PL) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at UBS.
  
• Maxim (NASDAQ:MXIM) was lifted to Buy from Hold at Canaccord.

U.S. stocks may be poised to drop for a third day following yesterday's disappointing results from Alcoa Inc. (AA), the first major Dow component to report this earnings season.

According to Bloomberg News, futures on the S&P 500 expiring in June decreased 0.9 percent to 806.60 at 10:50 a.m. in London, while Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slid 1% to 7,683 and Nasdaq-100 Index futures fell 0.6% to 1,273.75. Markets in Europe and Asia were also down.

Analyst upgrades:

• JP Morgan upgraded J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) to Neutral from Underweight based on lower input costs, stabilization in home, lower markdown dollars, and valuation.
• Oppenheimer upgraded Novellus (NASDAQ: NVLS) to Perform from Underperform as it believes Novellus' market share has stabilized and that the company is a potential acquisition target. The firm raised its price target to $20 from $9.
• Bernstein upgraded ConAgra (NYSE: CAG) to Market Perform from Underperform citing strength in grains and moderating input costs.
• ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
• China Housing (NASDAQ: CHLN) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Roth Capital.

While the whole world is scrambling for money, Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE: XOM) is trying to figure out what to do with $31.4 billion every day.

Chief Executive Officer Rex Tillerson told his treasurer to count every penny before he goes to bed each night. That's how careful Exxon Mobil is of losing capital in this time of financial chaos.

Exxon Mobil is very secretive about where the money is invested, but executives do say that some of it is used for funding capital budgets -- about $1 billion a week. The rest could be used for acquisitions.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says the price of crude isn't high enough to reignite the oil drilling companies.

Crude's awesome and it's really pushing up the whole complex. The stocks of the oils and the oil drillers are powering higher even as drilling is going down hard. Is it possible that the integrateds are right and the drilling stocks are wrong? Or should they both be going up together?

I wrestle over this issue every day because one of the main reasons why oil is going up, besides the endless "dollar-going-down-oil-safe-haven" trade that the media loves to go out with in order to sound smart, is that the drilling around the world has been cut back dramatically. I think that a deal like Suncor (NYSE: SU) (Cramer's Take) and Petro-Canada (NYSE: PCZ) (Cramer's Take) is great for the oils. It makes me recognize that there is value here in the group. I also believe the demand is real.

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.

After testifying before a Senate committee about AIG (NYSE: AIG) last week, the Fed's Ben Bernanke participates in a Council of Foreign Relations event Monday evening.

Economic data due to be released this week include wholesale trade and job vacancies for January on Tuesday morning, the U.S. Treasury budget for February on Wednesday, retail sales for February and business inventories for January on Thursday morning, and the U.S. trade balance for January on Friday morning.

It's been exactly one year since the last time Warren Buffett showed off his incredible investment mind in his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.A) shareholders and I dissected it for its greatest lessons.

You can read this year's entire 97-page annual report (pdf), or the shorter 23-page letter to shareholders (pdf), or just learn from what I think are some of this year's most important points:

1. While, as has been widely reported, this was Berkshire's worst year, we're only talking a 9.6% drop in book value, which hugely outperformed not only the S&P 500, but just about everyone else with multi-billion dollar businesses, let alone any insurance or investment businesses. Compare to Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE: MMC), Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX), Aon Corp (NYSE: AOC) and Willis Group (NYSE: WSH), all of which were hit far worse.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says Buffett's now putting a terminal value on something we thought we were to hold forever.

Struggling. I'm struggling this morning with some of the things that Warren Buffett is doing with his cash these days. I am struggling because he is selling America, selling Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) (Cramer's Take) and Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) (Cramer's Take), selling ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) (Cramer's Take) and selling U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) (Cramer's Take).

What's more American than these stocks? These are not small trimmings. He sold more than half of his 52 million shares of Johnson & Johnson and he sold it at a 20-year low relative to its yield. That doesn't sound like "Buy America." That sounds like "Sell America." Yet, on Oct. 16, 2008, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average at 9000 and the S&P 500 at 950, Buffett penned a now-famous op-ed submission to The New York Times saying it was time to buy America. Those who bought America that day are feeling ... well, downright un-American. Or at least they're feeling poorer.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says the importance of this nation cannot be overstated.

How long before we start feeling the positive effect of a market that is up 13% and is the biggest user of commodities? How long do we think oil can stay down (or copper or steel) when the stock market of China, the growth engine, is no longer sputtering and has ample room to run?

As people sell down BP (NYSE: BP) (Cramer's Take) and Conoco (NYSE: COP) (Cramer's Take), they simply must believe that the Chinese stimulus plan is already a failure. Anyone on the Mattel (NYSE: MAT) (Cramer's Take) conference call -- talk about a company with Chinese insight -- certainly thinks so. The description of China from reports like Mattel is one of Cormac McCarthy's The Road-like devastation.

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO) Q4 profit rose on higher prices, and its forecast matched expectations.
• Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) Q4 earnings grew on cost cutting but revenue remained flat.
• Black & Decker Corp. (NYSE: BDK) shares tanked after the dismal Q4 report, and it announced job cuts.
• Carpenter Technology Corp. (NYSE: CRS) Q2 numbers resulted in a downgrade from one analyst.
• ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) reported a Q4 loss due to writedowns from recent acquisitions.
• DuPont (NYSE: DD) swung to a bigger-than-expected Q4 loss and its revenue fell as well.
• Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE: LLY) swung to a Q4 loss on acquisition costs but reaffirmed its guidance.