Wall Street Struggles to Gain Footing
Wall Street jumped again during trading yesterday. The NASDAQ jumped 1.19 percent, followed closely by a 1.12 percent gain on the S&P 500 and a 0.97 percent gain on the Dow Jones.
After struggling during the morning to pick up points all three composites were able to rally in their second hour of trading. The outlook for the rest of the day seems to be rather uncertain as investors mull over corporate reports. According to MarketWatch, earnings from major European banks have been provided a boost to investment in the United States.
In other news, according to Bloomberg, BP has confirmed rumors that CEO Tony Hayward was on his way out with the company. Hayward will be replaced by U.S.-born BP official Robert Dudley as the chief executive office.
Tony Hayward has largely been a media fiasco for the British oil giant since the April 22 explosion that killed 11 workers and began the greatest man-made disaster in American history.
The cost of cleaning up the spill, according to Reuters, has now reached $32 billion. The company has lost more than $17 billion in value during the second quarter of 2010. It is unfair to levy all of the blame for this financial disaster on Tony Hayward, but he has hardly ingratiated himself with politicians or the American public since coming into the public eye. Now, he is on the way out and BP can begin picking up the public relations pieces in his absence.
The Obama administration has been very delayed in choosing its nominee to head the newly formed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Virtually every liberal or progressive pundit is calling for Elizabeth Warren – a proven financial watchdog.
According to Reuters, Warren’s track record of keeping tabs on major institutions is probably what is slowing the process down more than anything else. On Wall Street she is seen as public enemy number one. She is also not very popular with elected Republicans or political organizations like Fox News. The President, always fearing bad press from those who consistently oppose every choice he makes, is therefore unwilling to pull the trigger on this nomination for fear of reprisal.
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