Market Updates: Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM), Chevron (NYSE:CVX), ConocoPhilips (NYSE:COP), New York Times (NYSE:NYT), Blackstone Group (NYSE:BX)

Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM), Royal Dutch Shell Plc and two other oil companies will spend $1 billion to research and build a containment system to handle deep- water oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico. Exxon, Shell, Chevron (NYSE:CVX) and ConocoPhilips (NYSE:COP) will each give $250 million to establish a non-profit organization, the Marine Well Containment Co., to produce and manage the equipment. The system will be designed and built over the next 12 to 18 months to handle spills of 100,000 barrels a day in waters as deep as 10,000 feet (3,048 meters), the companies said in a statement on Business Wire. The oil industry has been criticized by lawmakers in the U.S. for being unprepared to deal with deep-water accidents, following the explosion of BP Plc’s Macondo well…