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.

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.

U.S. stock futures are higher Monday morning. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 28 points to 12,073.00, while those for the S&P 500 index gained 4.2 points to 1,311.40. Futures for the Nasdaq Composite rose 6.25 points to 2,343.75.

U.S. markets closed higher on Friday, with the Dow Industrials gaining 29.89 points, or 0.25%, to close at 12,092.15.

Data on consumer credit for December will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.

After a torrid year, the commodities markets showed some weakness is January. For example, gold fell by about 6%.

So is this a correction or finally a bear market?

Well, legendary investor, Jim Rogers, still thinks that commodities are the best place for your investment dollars (according to an interview on CNBC). No doubt, he has lots of credibility. When others snickered, Rogers started to invest in commodities in the late 1990s. He even wrote a book on the topic.

Earlier today, shares of oil behemoth BP plc (BP) slid lower thanks to the shutdown of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. The shutdown took place on Saturday, as a leak was discovered at the 800-mile network that transports oil across Alaska. BP owns a 47% stake in the pipeline system. Overseas, BP shares finished the day more than 1% lower and are currently mere percentage points lower in American trade.

BP has seen its fair share of problems lately, what with the whole Gulf of Mexico oil spill. In fact, the Oil Spill Commission blamed BP for having "a role in all of the mistakes made at the Macondo well." The pipeline's operator stated that the leak was discovered at 8:15 AM (local time) on Saturday and that the pipeline was shut at 8:50 AM. By 6 AM on Sunday, 90% of the oil had been recovered within the building.

U.S. stock futures are lower, this morning as investors are awaiting economic data. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average are down 10 points to 11,029.00, while those for the S&P 500 are down 0.60 point to 1,185.90. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index lost 1.50 points to 2,144.00.

U.S. stock markets closed lower yesterday, with the Dow losing 0.36%.

Economic data on Case-Shiller home prices for September and the Chicago PMI index for November business activity are due at 9:00 a.m. and 9:45 a.m. ET, respectively. The Conference Board is set to release November consumer-confidence data at 10 a.m. ET.

The price of oil jumped 2.3% to close at $83.08 per barrel on Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported. The trigger was a report by the Department of Energy stating that Inventories fell to 1.13 billion barrels from a high of 1.44 billion barrels in September.

Since June, oil has been range-bound between $70 and $80 per barrel. Now, with inventories lower, there is a fundamental reason for oil to trade higher.

This morning, the Energy Department reported a surprise increase in oil inventories, leading crude futures lower thus far. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that crude oil stockpiles increased 3.1 million barrels. Analysts had expected a decrease of 1.3 million barrels in crude oil inventories. Despite the surprise, oil prices weren't as low as one would think. November-dated crude was trading below $83 per barrel shortly after the inventory report.

After last week's huge run in the price of crude oil, it is time to think about taking a short position. This trade worked beautifully back at the beginning of August when crude was trading at similar levels. NYMEX front-month crude futures are now trading at $81.30.

Given the current economic backdrop, $80 seems to be the magic number over which oil has a difficult time sustaining itself. There are a number of important economic numbers out this week, any one of which could send the price of oil back below the $80 threshold. In the short term, a lot of things need to go right for crude to continue to march higher.

Early Wednesday morning, the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported that crude inventories dropped 2.4 million barrels during the past week. According to Platt's, inventories were expected to increase by 2.2 million barrels.

The report also showed that there was an increase in gasoline inventories, with distillates dropping. While the Energy Department is going to report its weekly supply data later Wednesday, crude futures inched higher above $76 per barrel.

Are you comfortable with the price you are paying to fuel your vehicles? If so, good; if not, you better look for an alternative fuel vehicle. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) announced earlier today that it is "comfortable" with the current prices for black gold and that it doesn't want to "rock the boat" as the economy attempts to recover from the recession.

I assume that the members of OPEC then lit cigars with $20 bills and sat around sipping brandy from gold snifters while laughing uproariously. OPEC's Secretary General Abdalla El-Badri noted a sense of caution, because the cartel is trying to help the world economy. El-Badri stated that the path of the world recovery is "not really clear," and that OPEC doesn't "want to see a double-dip recession which ... would affect, negatively, almost everybody." Any change in prices or quotas this year will depend on unnamed "circumstances" according to the Secretary General.

While stocks are gaining momentum Monday morning on positive economic numbers from overseas, oil futures are benefiting from the closure of a Midwestern pipeline.

On Sunday, the Environmental Protection Agency stated that it can not find the source of a leak along a pipeline operated by Enbridge Energy Partners (EEP). The pipeline runs from Canada to the upper Midwest, pumping 760,000 barrels per day. With this pipeline disrupted indefinitely (EEP has not given an estimate for a restart date), we could see black gold enjoying a bit of a rally.

The U.S. Department of Energy reported that stockpiles of crude oil and refined products rose 1.13 billion barrels last week. This is the highest inventory rise since 1990, when records first began.

The big inventories are keeping a lid on prices. Oil traded below $75.00 per barrel on the NYMEX. A few weeks ago, oil traded as high as $83.00 per barrel.

Oil plunged again Thursday, at one point falling to $64.24 per barrel, before recovering to $67.74, down $2.13.

What's driving the downtrend? It's not oil's fundamentals, which are basically the same as they were a week ago. It's market psychology that's changed. Institutional investors are concerned that Europe's sovereign debt crisis has not been resolved, and that worry, combined with higher-than-expected U.S. initial jobless claims, and a disappointing April Leading Economic Indicators reading, has reduced investors risk appetite. Translation: Take some money out of growth-oriented plays, and oil is one.

I don't know if any one out there can say he or she saw yesterday's plunge coming. Was the plummet based solely on a fat-fingered typing mistake? Was it based solely on concerns over the health of the Greek economy? Was it caused by rumors that Germany may pull out of the eurozone? I don't know if we will be able to specify one problem, but one thing is sure in the wake of yesterday's drop -- fear is as prominent as ever on the Street.

On down days in the markets, one generally expects to see a rally in commodities, as they are often deemed a safe haven for investors. This wasn't the case yesterday as crude oil saw its three-day sell off extend itself to a 3.6% loss, bringing the closing price of black gold to $77.11 per barrel (crude is on pace to set its worst week since 2009).