XOM Earnings Soar -- Here We Go

Link here.

Expectations: 40 percent jump in earnings.

Report: 41 percent jump in earnings. Sets $5 billion stock buyback.

Exxon Mobil's quarterly profit rose 41 percent as higher prices for oil and natural gas made up for lower production.

Despite outspending other oil giants for the past few years, production dropped for the largest publicly traded oil company. Some of the declines resulted from international deals that limit the amount of oil that Exxon can sell as prices rise, the company said. But excluding those limits, production was still flat.

Great news for peak oil theorists: production was flat, although that's the classic "chicken and egg" story.