A turn for the worse

(The Economist) The outlook is deteriorating even for the best-performing firms, let alone the troubled ones

THE second quarter of this year was the most profitable ever for Big Oil: the six largest Western oil companies reported a 40% jump in profits, to a combined $51.6 billion. Exxon Mobil, the biggest of them all, banked $11.7 billion, the highest-ever quarterly profit reported by an American firm, beating its own record. But nobody expects a repeat of such feats of capitalism in the quarter soon ending, thanks to the tumble in the oil price from its peak of $147 in July. And given all the recent talk about levying windfall taxes on them, the oil giants may think that is just as well.

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