Wall St falls apart in the worst quarter since the collapse of Lehman

U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday at the end of a disappointing second quarter, in another low volume session as investors found little reason to be at risk to conflicting economic data.

Wednesday's session ended like many others during the quarter, with a last-minute sell-off due to buying interest waned and investors sold the worst performers in the worst quarter since the crisis hit market the collapse of Lehman Brothers."He removed all the garbage on the side of the boat," said Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Equity Markets.

"If I had a little extra boost, they would be able to sell these things a little more expensive and would not have this kind of pressure at the end of the day," he said.The Dow Jones industrial average fell 96.28 points, or 0.98 percent to 9774.02 points. The Standard & Poor's 500 lost 10.53 points, or 1.01 percent to 1030.71 points.

The Nasdaq Composite fell 25.94 points, or 1.21 percent to 2109.24 points.

In the second quarter, the Dow Jones lost 10 percent, while the S & P 500 and Nasdaq is down about 12 percent due to concerns about sovereign debt in Europe and the sustainability of economic recovery in United States .

The S & P fell below the 1,040 points it had held since February, which come in a technical correction to the low suggesting that there could be a further decline in the next five months.

Technology shares were among the hardest hit, in a session in which the roles of Google Inc shed 2.1 percent to $ 444.95, and Apple Inc lost 1.8 percent, to 251 , $ 53.

Data published on Wednesday showed business activity in the Midwest grew slightly more than expected in June, but a report showed weakness in private sector employment, a critical part of economic recovery.

The index of oil services sector of Philadelphia was among the few that stood out, with an increase of 0.02 percent, helped by an increase of 1.8 percent in the shares of Baker Hughes Inc, to $ 41.57.

The index has fallen 20.3 percent in the quarter, and 22.4 percent from BP Plc's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Fitch lowers BP note that support has not been prepared for accident

The financial rating agency Fitch downgraded the financial risks of BP saying the irrepressible effusion produced by one of its platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, an accident for which he was not prepared, as acknowledged on Thursday the director general of the British oil group .

Fitch said in a statement that downgraded from "AA +" to "AA" footnote negative outlook for British Petroleum (BP). These notes remain the group between "high-quality issuers."

"The downgrade of BP's note reflects Fitch's view on the increasing risks on the profile of activity and financial nature of BP after the accident Deepwater Horizon platform in the Gulf of Mexico," the agency said in a statement.Fitch notes that BP failed so far repeatedly in their attempts to stop the oil spill and returned to containment methods should be deployed and still are subject to weather problems, "referring to the frequent summer hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico.

It also notes that drilling a relief well "may pose a risk and need extra time to be fully effective."

The news came after BP announced Thursday it will pay in full the $ 360 million needed for construction of six sections of artificial islands to protect Louisiana from the tide after the accident caused Deepwater Horizon.

"BP supports the U.S. government's decision to proceed with the construction of six sections" artificial island, said in a statement, adding that "the group will finance the $ 360 million to cost of construction."The oil group has already disbursed U.S. $ 1,000 million in cleanup and containment operations and all their attempts to cut the roots failed spill, arousing the anger of the authorities in Washington.

In the current situation, Fitch estimated at 2000-3000 billion cost of the cleanup operation this year although it depends on the amount of oil that reaches the U.S. coastline.Some analysts estimate that the total cost to the company could reach 20,000 million dollars.

The rating agency Moody's had lowered the May 5 to negative from stable the outlook for BP's credit note.

The CEO of BP, Tony Hayward admitted that the British oil group, which for a month and half combat the oil spill, was not prepared for such a problem at sea."No doubt that we did not have the tools we need in our toolbox," said BP chief said in remarks published Thursday by the Financial Times.

Although BP was considered "very successful" to prevent the spill from approaching the coast, agreed that "it was an entirely fair criticism" to say that the firm was not fully prepared for such spills in deep water.Hayward noted that after the catastrophe caused by the tanker Exxon Valdez in 1989, companies had created a body of appropriate response to contamination on the surface, the Marine Spill Response Corporation (MSRC).

"The challenge will be equipped with the same responsiveness in deep water," he said.