Oil prices have not exactly been on a roll, but Exxon (XOM) has been.

Despite a drop in prices from $78 a barrel to well under $60, XOM turned in net income of $10.25 billion in the fourth quarter, down only modestly from $10.71 billion in the same quarter last year.

In the last quarter of the year, oil prices were about where they were a year ago, but Exxon beat Wall St. estimates in a climate that is becoming more difficult for Big Oil.

At the open, investors will get rewarded.

Douglas A. McIntyre