NEW YORK — BP’s agreement to put $20 billion into a fund for victims of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill lifted the stock market off its lows and sent the major indexes to a narrowly mixed finish.
The oil company also said Wednesday it has canceled a dividend payment totaling about $2.6 billion that was scheduled for June 21. It also won’t declare a dividend for the second and third quarters.
Investors saw the news as an end to the uncertainty about BP’s stability, and that helped steady the overall market. The Dow Jones industrial average rose about 4 points, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell less than a point and the Nasdaq composite was virtually unchanged.
“One source of uncertainty has been at least partially resolved,” said Brian Gendreau, a market strategist with Financial Network Investment Corp.
The market began the day by falling on news that home construction and applications for building permits slumped in May following the end of a homebuyer tax credit.
Meanwhile, FedEx released a disappointing profit forecast for the fiscal year that began June 1, and that raised more questions about the economic recovery. The package delivery company is seen as a barometer of the economy because shipping demand tends to increase as business conditions improve. The stock fell almost 6 percent.
The Dow rose 4.69, or 0.05 percent, to 10,409.46, its fourth advance in five days. During morning trading, the Dow was down as much as 72 points. The S&P 500 fell 0.62, or 0.06 percent, to 1,114.61, and the Nasdaq crept up 0.05 to 2,305.93.
The Dow is still down more than 7 percent from the 2010 high of 11,205.03 that it reached April 26.
