BP (NYSE:BP) Up Fourth Straight Day

For the fourth trading day in a row, BP (NYSE:BP) ended up in positive territory, as perceptions it's getting close to plugging the well, and they may get more liquid through investment from the Middle East.

Neither of these are a guarantee in the short term, and both could come back to bite them quickly if they fail.

The optimism they may plug the well before original estimates in being run with by the media, even though caveats they're unlikely to do so have been thrown out to balance that idea.

It's possible, but everything would have to fall into place perfectly for that to happen, and more than likely the middle of August will still be the approximate time they'll reach that goal, although even plugging the oil well isn't guaranteed at that time.

BP CEO Tony Hayward has been globe trotting, presenting the idea he is out there working on getting some liquidity into the company through investments from Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds or large corporations in the region.

That is important because they're trying to build a defense against a possible takeover, which they could be under huge pressure to accept in light of the oil spill fiasco.

They've also secured funding through $1 billion in guaranteed loans from at least 9 banks at last count, which they'll be able to tap quickly if needed.

Much of this gives the company breathing room, but not much else, yet it's a lot better than they were just a week or so ago, and investors seem to agree with that assessment by voting their dollars in the oil giant.

BP finished Thursday at $33.74, a $0.55 gain, or 1.66 percent. Market cap at the end of the day was $105.63 billion.

BP (NYSE:BP) Upgraded From Hold To Buy: Stock Prices Rise, Oil Futures

Analysts from the Royal Bank of Scottland upgraded BP (NYSE:BP) from hold to buy. They said the reasoning for this was that they've dismissed the negative rumors of what the probable cost of the massive Gulf oil leak could be. After a three day weekend, oil and gas stocks saw an incline seeing sector wide gains of 2.5 percent or higher.

BP lead percentage gainers by 6.5 percent to $31.25 a share. Halliburton was up 3.6 percent at $26.65. Before the bell, Nasdaq 100 index futures rose 26.59 or 1.5 percent to 1,747.75. Dow Jones industrial average futures went up 102 or 1.1 percent to 9,628. Standard & Poors 500 index futures rose 12.00 or 1.2 percent 1.026.30.

Early on, the New York Stock Exchange Arca Oil Index was up 2.5 percent to 901.11 points. Leading was the Spanish oil company Repsol up 4.2 percent to $21.05. The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector Index also saw an increase of 3 percent to 170.4 points.

While the NYSE Arcca Natural Gas Index was ahead 2.6 percent to 492.25 points and had all 15 of its components trading higher. In morning trading National Fuel Gas Co., EOG Resources, and Ultra Petroleum Corporation were the front runners at 3.5 percent or higher.

BP (NYSE:BP) Oil Spill Costs U.S. State Pensions $1.4 Billion

While the majority of the focus is on the effects of BP's (NYSE:BP) oil spill disaster in the ocean and to wildlife, it's effects have also touched the U.S. State pension. The California Public Employees fund has lost a total value of close to $284.6 million. There are 42 state retirement accounts that are tied into BP's stock prices.

The U.S. Public Pension fund has been struggling since last year, with a decline of 21 percent total investment losses. As of May 1 of this year, they held more than $300 million shares in BP. The largest U.S. Pension fund, Calpers at $210 billion, had a total of 58.2 million shares as of April 20th. This is more than any other state pension. They saw a decline from $585.7 million down to $301 million.

Brad Pacheco, a spokesman said, " Calpers has a well diversified portfolio and long term investment strategy to weather these ups and downs, even those caused by unusual circumstances such as this one. We will be engaging BP on corporate governance to discuss the impact of the crisis on the value of the company."