Exxon Mobil Corp.(NYSE:XOM) is the leading stock in the stock market. Many people believe Apple Inc.(NYSE:AAPL), and Amazon.com Inc.(NYSE:AMZN) are the stocks that the stock market follows. While this might be true to some extent it is Exxon Mobil Corp. that still has the largest market capitalization in the stock universe at $362 billion. Exxon Mobil Corp. is also a major Dow Jones Industrial component. Remember the Dow Jones Industrial Average is price cap weighted index not a market cap weighted index like the S&P 500 Index. Therefore, this stock still carries a lot of weight in the stock market especially the higher it trades.
Lately, when we have seen Exxon Mobil Corp. rally the stock market indexes have followed closely behind. Yesterday Exxon Mobil Corp. soared higher after making a 10:00 am low and the stock market actually followed the stock. Certainly a declining U.S. Dollar index will always help to inflate the stock markets higher, however, Exxon Mobil rallied before the dollar began to decline. Therefore, Exxon Mobil Corp. is a leading indicator especially during the intra-day.
Today Exxon Mobil Corp. is trading higher by 0.25 cents while the Dow Jones Industrial is trading lower by more than 100.00 points. Can this large cap integrated energy stock lift the market up after an early decline? We shall see soon enough since this is a stock market barometer stock. Please note if Exxon Mobil Corp. starts to decline the stock markets will usually decline as well. It works both ways with this stock.