Better or worse than expected? Almost impossible to judge when the sums are so large, which might be why the shares are currently unmoved today, despite BP’s huge charge and the sending of its CEO Tony Hayward to Siberia. Analysts are surely dazed and confused.

The reason for the loss is of course a huge charge for the Gulf spill:

BP announced today that it has taken a pre-tax charge of $32.2 billion for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, including the $20 billion escrow compensation fund previously announced.

The company will also tell analysts later today that it plans to sell assets for up to $30 billion over the next 18 months, primarily in the upstream business, and selected on the basis that they are worth more to other companies than to BP. This portfolio high grading will leave the company with a smaller but higher quality Exploration & Production business.

Meanwhile BP continues to access new business opportunities, with new agreements in Azerbaijan, Egypt, China and Indonesia announced since the end of the first quarter.

The company said it was taking a prudent approach to managing the balance sheet and its financial liquidity, in order to ensure that BP has the flexibility to meet all of its future financial obligations. As a result it plans to reduce its net debt level down to a range of $10-$15 billion within the next 18 months, compared to net debt of $23 billion at the end of June. Group capital spending for 2010 and 2011 will be about $18 billion a year, in line with previous forecasts.

(Read more: BBC)

The most interesting aspect of the 750 billion euro ’shock and awe’ stability package outlined by European ministers today is that the ECB is now going to be purchasing Euro government bonds.

This is a turnaround for the ECB, which said only last week it would be doing no such thing!

No wonder markets were caught on the hop. (Though some may say it’s hardly cricket to say one thing then do the complete opposite the very next week).

So, is this Eurozone quantitative easing, Bank of England style?

Not exactly. The ECB is saying that the bank’s purchasing of troubled bonds will be ‘sterilized’ by selling other assets that it owns. This differs from the Bank of England’s approach, which has seen entirely new money created and injected into the economy.

But I wonder how long the ECB’s approach will last.

The stability fund means Euro zone government debts will surely be repaid in the medium term – the immediate liquidity crisis is over.

But it doesn’t make Greece, Italy or Spain any richer overnight.

Ultimately, as with the UK and America, it’s hard to escape the conclusion that inflating away the worst of Europe’s liabilities will be politically tempting. The result could be higher yields on even German government bonds and a weaker Euro in the long-term.

That could be good for German and French exporters – and their stock markets – which may help the Eurozone balance its books. But long-term higher yields won’t help the Spanish or Italian economies, let alone the Greeks.

And closer European integration to justify support for the peripheral countries – or else eventual ejection of the weaker members – now seems even likelier to me.

Apple top of of the corporate pops:

1 Apple
2 Google
3 Berkshire Hathaway
4 Johnson & Johnson
5 Amazon.com
6 Procter & Gamble
7 Toyota Motor
8 Goldman Sachs Group
9 Wal-Mart Stores
10 Coca-Cola

On Apple:

As BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer puts it, “The whole world held its breath before the iPad was announced. That’s brand management at its very best.”

Voted for by businesspeople, in case you’re wondering

(Source: Full world’s most admired companies list at Fortune)

No shock to see the Bank of England kept interest rates on hold at 0.5% today. In its last inflation report it made very clear it saw the risks were still to the downside:

More red- just - below target basically means rates on hold

The Old Lady commented:

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee today voted to maintain the official Bank Rate paid on commercial bank reserves at 0.5%. The Committee also voted to maintain the stock of asset purchases financed by the issuance of central bank reserves at £200 billion.

The news sites are full of comment about the non-move – a sure sign that everyone knew it was(n’t) coming and prepared their statements in advance.

Indeed, most pundits have been re-stating their positions for 12 months.

This pundit continues to think the full effects of low rates and QE are yet to come through, and that inflation will tick up sooner than the geniuses at the Bank expect.

(Source: Bank of England)

Time for another round of shoot the messenger for hedge funds:

The U.S. is asking hedge funds not to destroy trading records on euro bets, according to a person with knowledge of the requests, as Europe and the U.S. step up scrutiny of the funds’ role in the Greek debt crisis.

The Department of Justice sent requests to save the records to at least some of the hedge funds whose executives attended a dinner hosted by New York-based research and brokerage firm Monness, Crespi, Hardt & Co. on Feb. 8, said the person, who declined to be identified because the information is private.

“It is clear in the current environment, and likely for a long time going forward, any entity that profits from another’s misfortune, in this case hedge funds versus Greece and the euro zone, risks being the target of public backlash, or worse, government retaliation,” said Kirby Daley, a senior strategist in Hong Kong with Newedge Group’s prime brokerage business.

Coming soon – a probe into anyone who takes advantage of supermarket BOGOFs, the Christmas sales, or low share prices.

(Source: Business Week)