This was another day where the real closing verdict of red or black was unknown right up until the closing bell. The day looked very mixed from index to index and sector to sector. Consumer confidence came in weak again, and there is still mixed data on housing prices.

Here were today's closing bell levels:

Dow Jones 10,537.69 +12.26 (0.12%)
S&P 500 1,113.84 -1.17 (-0.10%)
Nasdaq 2,288.25 -8.18 (-0.36%)

BP's (BP) chief executive Tony Hayward will receive an immediate annual pension of £600,000 ($930,000) when he leaves in October. He will also receive one year's salary, plus benefits worth £1 million. He will be able to keep his rights to shares under a long-term performance scheme. Eventually, these could be worth several million pounds. Hayward's total pension benefits will total £11 million.

The BBC's business editor said that because Hayward was leaving by mutual agreement rather than being fired, the BP board felt it had "to honor the terms of its contract with him." His contract states that anyone who joined BP before 2008 can take their pension at age 50. Mr. Hayward is 53.

Lots of reports surrounding embattled BP (BP) CEO Tony Hayward surfaced Monday morning. Some are saying that the company's board has made up its mind on Hayward's fate while other outlets are stressing that no decision has been made.

Whatever the board's current status, it sure seems like Tony Hayward has one foot out of the door and his demise is related directly to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Moreover, it appears that the company has tapped Bob Dudley to take over. Dudley is in charge of the cleanup and would be BP's first foreign CEO (Dudley is a U.S. citizen).

BP (BP) announced Tuesday that it completed a sale of assets to Apache (APA). The assets sold were in North America and Egypt and carried a price tag of $7 billion. Previous reports indicated Prudhoe Bay was up for sale, but it turned out not to be the case.

According to APA, which has a knack for purchasing older oil wells and squeezing some more money from them, this purchase was a "rare opportunity to acquire legacy positions from a major oil company." The company's CEO, Steven Farris, noted that the company "seldom have an opportunity like this in one o our core areas let along three," adding that Apache will add value to the assets "for decades to come."

Very little happened in the stock market today, and the very little happened on very little volume. With the 4th of July only two weeks off, the slack action could last every Friday until Labor Day. The DJIA , NASDAQ, and S&P 500 hugged the flat line.

The numbers:

Dow 10,450.87 +16.70 (0.16%)
S&P 500 1,117.52 +1.48 (0.13%)
Nasdaq 2,309.80 +2.64 (0.11%)

Shares of BP plc (BP) closed today's trading slightly lower, as the company's CEO, Tony Hayward, appeared before Congress today to discuss the oil blowout in the Gulf of Mexico.

BP has been under fire for the April 20th explosion that has resulted in the nation's largest environmental disaster, and today the company's CEO was in front of Congress to answer allegations that the company took cost cutting measures on the oil rig that it knew resulted in safety risks.