Man of Honour
- Joined
- 17 Oct 2002
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- Retired Don
I don't see why BP should be forced to withhold dividends. They are cash rich enough to pay cleanup costs and dividends!
Emotions are high and idiocy is rife; many Americans demand "tough action", and Obama is happy to pander to the British Petroleum bashing public.I don't see why BP should be forced to withhold dividends. They are cash rich enough to pay cleanup costs and dividends!
I don't see why BP should be forced to withhold dividends. They are cash rich enough to pay cleanup costs and dividends!
So you want some BP shares. You want to buy at the right time to ensure that your investment doesn't suddenly drop and instead grows as much as possible - fair enough, it's what everyone wants!buy now or wait till the decision about dividends on Monday or the meeting with Obama on Wednesday.
So you want some BP shares. You want to buy at the right time to ensure that your investment doesn't suddenly drop and instead grows as much as possible - fair enough, it's what everyone wants!
The news on Monday and Wednesday can affect the share price of BP. If the news is negative, it will likely drop, and if the news is positive, it will likely rise.
The choice you make is on whether you think the news is positive or negative. It is somewhat of an unknown. There are schools of thought that argue that not paying the dividend would be a serious mistake and that it will get paid, and others that say pressure from the American government in an attempt to save face will result in it not being paid. The situation is that nobody knows for sure, and so the market has placed the share price at the correct odds. It is high enough to reflect the likelihood of a dividend being paid, but not so high that it is 100% priced in - positive news could cause another rise, but negative news could create a larger fall if the market believes it is more likely that the news will be positive.
If the result of a decision was predictable with near 100% certainty, then the effect that the decision would have on the share price would already be in place, as people who are buying the shares at a lower price with the view to get a return when the price rises on the result of a decision, will cause the share price to rise. This will continue until the point where the share price is as high as it will be on result of the news.
So, back to your situation. Buying before or after the news affects your entry point. Whenever you are investing you want this to be as low as possible. It may not be the lowest it goes, but it maximises the future profit potential.
Im thinking of punting a few £ in BP too, i too have nver bought shares
Jay
I see that BP dropped down to 295 today, the lowest yet but its gone back upto 391 at the moment..