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Blue-chip earnings and an improvement in consumer sentiment helped stocks shrug off disappointing economic growth to end mixed Friday -- but the market still enjoyed its biggest monthly gain in a year.

Blue-chip energy giants ExxonMobil and Chevron report earnings this week, and if analysts' forecasts are right, both should post sharply higher revenues and profits, helped by lower costs and higher oil prices.

The first peak week of reports was just what the market ordered, thanks to some beat-and-raise results from Dow blue chips. This week has more big names on tap. And again, jittery investors will be looking closely, especially for revenue growth. [With video]

ExxonMobil's fourth quarter earnings fell 23% year-over-year, marking Exxon's fifth straight decline in quarterly profit. However, the world's largest public oil company beat analysts expectations, and shares are rising in early trading.

On Friday morning, Chevron announced its fourth-quarter net income came in at $3.07 billion or $1.53 per share, down from $4.9 billion or $2.44 per share a year ago. This missed Wall Street analysts' expectations that Chevron would report earnings of $1.66 per share.

Forget Austin Powers. The real "international man of mystery" is President Umaru Yar'Adua of Nigeria, who hasn't been seen in public for weeks. The absence comes at a tricky time for U.S.-Nigerian relations, as a Nigerian has been charged with trying to blow up a U.S. airliner and Obama needs Nigeria's help to counter Al-Qaeda's growing influence in the region.

Exxon Mobil (XOM) is the beast of the global energy industry. It ranks No.1 in market cap among all companies traded on U.S. exchanges with a market value of $355 billion That is $125 billion ahead of Chinese oil giant PetroChina (PTR) and more than double the market cap of the next-largest...

Refinery operators from Hawaii to Germany are weighing plans to close or sell plants due to the biggest drop in oil and refined product demand in almost three decades, according to Bloomberg News. Companies that may close refineries include U.S.-based Chevron (CVX) and Valero (VLO), as well as...

What's one way you can hedge against a near-inevitable rise in oil prices? Buy shares of integrated oil companies, which are at their lowest price levels, on a price-to-earnings basis (P/E), in more than a decade. Oil and gas producers in the MSCI World Index traded at a P/E of 7.84 in June,...

Concerns that corporate earnings will show no signs of an economic recovery kept many traders out of the market today and inspired those who did wade in to send stocks lower. The S&P 500 capped its fourth straight weekly decline and the Dow Jones industrial average fell 37 points, or 0.5...