A few weeks back, we made a case that Exxon Mobil was perched at the crossroads of a very interesting technical position.  Since then, the stock has both pierced slightly below the 81 area and also bounced up to over 84, only to settle back to the 81 area today.  While we would have been obligated to abandon the bullish bias with a decisive close below the 81 area, price action seems sticky here so we suspect that the major support thesis may be valid. Despite the decline of west Texas crude to below $50 today, the price action on XOM remains tenuously positive on balance.  If support holds here, I expect XOM to emerge into a new positive phase.  A decisive close below 80 would cast this in serious doubt.