The rumor that BP will skip the dividend has sent a shock into the price. The UK investors, mainly institutions are taking a huge hit. The UK Gov will also take a hit because they won’t pay out some 3B in dividends..no tax money.
The pronoucements of Chavez Hussein hasn’t helped. It will hurt in the long run if BP isn’t able to pay for clean up..if they loose the ability to borrow and they can’t sell more stock it won’t help the effort.