bp stock price

Investors got an early jump on BP's earnings announcement, sending the stock about 4% higher in Monday in a positive reaction to the oil giant's anticipated ouster of CEO Tony Hayward in favor of Gulf cleanup czar Bob Dudley.

When voices such as the Financial Times and Warren Buffett call for an overhaul of top management, including Chairman Svanberg and CEO Hayward, it's time to listen. BP won't regain investors' confidence until it does so.

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is taking a bigger bite out of BP's bottom line, according to a report issued Wednesday by analysts for Sanford C. Bernstein that hikes the oil company's cost to $33 billion.

In addition to allaying fears about dilution, BP has have managed to find support from several analysts, including one at Royal Bank of Scotland who upgrade a stock recommendation to buy from hold on Tuesday.

As strange as it sounds, shares in beleaguered oil spiller BP both fell and rose in Tuesday trading. They lost 1.7% in London, BP's home stock exchange. But they jumped 2.3% in New York, where BP's American depositary shares are traded.

Members of BP's employee savings plan are suing the oil giant over losses tied to the company's plunging stock price. They claim BP "knew or should have known" that its equity was "an imprudent investment of the ESP's assets."

In a rude welcome to Bob Dudley, BP's new point man in the Gulf oil spill, the company's containment effort hit a potentially serious snag when the cap covering the blown-out well had to be removed.

Despite the company's massive oil spill, just weeks ago analysts were solidly behind BP's stock. Now, they're looking at the seemingly unending stream of bad news and rising costs and having second thoughts.

BP stock plunged 4.3%, or $1.45, to $32.52 at Monday's market open. U.S. listed shares in BP have fallen 46% since April because of the Gulf oil spill.

BP's stock rallied as much as 5% at one point during Friday trading, shrugging off remarks by CEO Tony Hayward that the energy giant could suspend its dividend payment to quell political criticism over BP's handling of the Gulf oil spill.