BP PLC's credit rating was downgraded again by Moody's Investors Service, but the stock market doesn't seem to care much. The shares were down only slightly in late-morning trading, and of course they rose nicely on Thursday even after the embattled oil producer announced that it was cancelling its dividend payments for the rest of the year.
You do have to wonder if most of the bad news (well, shy of failure) is built into the share price now. You also have to wonder if many of the uncertainties facing the company emanate from what looks likely politically motivated anger from the U.S. government. That could change if a backlash forms against the government.
There are skeptics out there already. James Hamilton at Econbrowser had this to say:
"I must say that I find the suggestion that the company should compensate oil workers from other firms put out of work by the government's moratorium deeply troubling. I see no economic or legal rationale for this, but I understand the politics - let's use somebody else's money to buy off those groups that the government's own decisions may anger. And just whose money shall we use? Well, BP's, of course, which stands for British Pensioners."