Gulf of Mexico spill costs hit $2 billion, BP says
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — BP said Monday its costs arising from the continuing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico hit the $2 billion mark as the environmental disaster reached the grim 60-day mark and as the oil major reportedly set plans to float $10 billion in debt.
Gold prices ease off fresh highs
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The price of gold surged to a fresh intraday record Monday before pulling back as investors digested China’s decision to allow the yuan to appreciate against the dollar.
What prices are doing: Gold for August delivery rose 40 cents to $1,258.70 an ounce. Earlier, prices climbed to $1,266.50, beating the record intraday high of $1,263.40 set the previous session. Gold prices also set a settlement record Friday, at $1,258.30 an ounce.
Factbox: Winners and losers from a firmer yuan
The immediate winners from a yuan revaluation would be firms that buy raw materials and other inputs overseas, such as airlines purchasing jet fuel and automakers sourcing parts.
Chinese exporters are likely to be the hardest hit. A relatively mild yuan appreciation against the dollar of about 5 percent would cause losses at these companies, according to a Reuters poll conducted at China’s top trade fair in April.
Following is a list of some likely winners and losers from any yuan appreciation.
In today’s news updates we offer links to keep up to date on the BP Oil Spill crisis and the news, economics and politics surrounding it.
BP Reports Highest Oil-Capture Rate Since Spill Began
June 17 (Bloomberg) — BP Plc captured 18,600 barrels of oil from its leaking Gulf of Mexico well yesterday, a 78 percent increase from the previous day and the most since the spill began in April.
About 21 percent of the oil was burned aboard the Q4000, a floating rig connected to the wellhead that began operations early yesterday, BP said in a statement posted today on its website. The rest was stored aboard the Discoverer Enterprise, a drillship that’s been collecting oil since June 4, BP said.
Is BP a Buy? Wall Street isn’t sure.
FORTUNE — Simply put, the crisis in the Gulf is an environmental, political, and financial disaster. You will hear no argument on any of those counts here.
What you will get are short answers to two pressing questions about BP and a longer one to a third. Now that BP (BP) has suspended its dividend and agreed to set aside $20 billion for costs relating to the spill, it’s time to determine what the future might look like for the embattled oil giant. And who else to ask but Wall Street?
BP’s Shareholders Take It on the Chin
Just how big is this oil spill, really? For BP shareholders, about $88 billion big — and growing, Christine Hauser reports in The New York Times.
That is roughly how much money investors have lost on paper as the oil giant’s share price has plunged. And, in the grim calculus of the spill — the lives and livelihoods lost, the barrels of oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico — the financial toll keeps mounting, too.
BP is so big, and its stock is so widely held, that its troubles are being felt throughout the investment world. Large insurance companies in Britain, big money management companies in the United States and government-controlled investment funds in Norway, Kuwait, China and Singapore rank among the company’s largest stockholders. BP may be British, but Americans own half its stock.
Rudy Giuliani Bashes President Obama As Political Opportunist On BP Oil Spill
Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani went after President Obama on FOX News Channel’s FOX & Friends over the catastrophic Gulf Coast oil spill this morning, saying while BP Executive Tony Hayward “deserves all the criticism he gets…the government has played a big role in this down here as well.”
Giuliani, who as we all know ran for president in 2008, said Hayward would get treated “like a punching bag… There is something very unseemly about it.”
BP chairman apologises for ‘small people’ gaffe
BP has tried to set right another blooper after the company’s chairman referred to victims of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill as the ”small people”, a reference that prompted an immediate outcry.
Carl-Henric Svanberg apologised for having spoken ”clumsily” to reporters after his White House meeting with President Barack Obama on Wednesday.
”What I was trying to say – that BP understands how deeply this affects the lives of people who live along the Gulf and depend on it for their livelihood – will best be conveyed not by any words but by the work we do to put things right for the families and businesses who’ve been hurt.”
Today’s news update includes links to Google privacy, BP oil spill and the jobs report.
Obama-May jobs report show economy strengthening
President Barack Obama said on Friday the gain of 431,000 jobs in May is a sign the U.S. economy is getting stronger, although there will still be ups and downs going forward.
“This report is a sign that our economy is getting stronger by the day,” Obama said in remarks to about about 50 workers at a large truck garage in Maryland.
“A lot of businesses that were hit hard during this downturn, they are starting to hire again. Workers who were laid off are starting to get their jobs back,” he said.
Hayward Pledges to Steer BP Through Crisis, Has Board Backing
BP Plc Chief Executive Officer Tony Hayward, under growing pressure over the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, pledged to lead the company through the crisis with the backing of the board.
“My number one priority is to steer BP through this crisis, and that is exactly what I intend to do,” Hayward said on a conference call with investors today. He has received “extraordinary support” from the board, he said.
Criticism of Hayward grew this week after BP’s failure to stem the flow from the damaged well caused the biggest share price drop in 18 years and led to speculation over his future. Fitch Ratings and Moody’s Investor Service downgraded BP’s credit rating yesterday on concern about the rising costs of the worst spill in U.S. history.
Like Facebook, Google Also Struggles With A Privacy Issue
We all know that Facebook has had more than its fair share of struggles with privacy issues. But the social networking site isn’t the only Internet titan battling privacy concerns. Google obtained data it probably shouldn’t have through the process it uses to take photographs for its Street View maps service. Several European nations complained, however, and Google is surrendering the private information.
Here’s what happened, via the New York Times:
“Last month, Google revealed it had been inadvertently collecting 600 gigabytes of personal data, saying that the roving, camera-mounted cars in its Street View program had collected not only photographs of neighborhoods but snippets of private information from people whose personal Wi-Fi networks were left unencrypted.”
BP Delays New Attempt to Stop Oil Leak
VENICE, La. — As Louisiana state and local officials continue to hammer BP and the federal agencies responding to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, repeatedly threatening to “take matters into our own hands” if the response falls short, BP said Monday morning that it was further delaying its next attempt to shut off the leak.
Existing home sales jump in April on tax credit
The National Association of Realtors said sales rose 7.6 percent month-over-month to an annual rate of 5.77 million units, the highest since November, from a slightly upwardly revised 5.36 million-unit pace in March.
Analysts polled by Reuters had expected April sales to increase 5.6 percent to a 5.65 million-unit pace from the previously reported 5.35 million units in March. Sales were up 22.8 percent in the 12 months to April.
Economists See Solid US Growth
The U.S. economy should expand at a solid pace this year and next as consumers increase spending, confident the recession is behind them, a panel of economists said in a survey released Monday.
The 46 economists surveyed in the National Association for Business Economics report between April 27 and May 7 predicted U.S. gross domestic product would expand by 3.2% in 2010 and 2011.
That is a touch higher than the 3.1% growth predicted for both years in the last survey, released Feb. 10.
