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BP (NYSE: BP), Europe's second-largest oil company, is reportedly once again in talks with TNK-BP, its joint venture with Russian oligarch investors, about acquiring the company that is Russia's third-largest oil producer in an effort to move forward with the controversial $16 billion share exchange with OAO Rosneft. The deal could be worth $30 billion or more, and, through a series of transactions with BP, it would give Rosneft the 50% stake in TNK-BP now owned by the billionaire partners, according to the Wall Stret Journal.. TNK-BP investors would get chunks of both BP and Rosneft, Russia's largest oil producer. If BP is successful in its effort to acquire TNK-BP, it would pave the way for the British oil giant to move forward with Rosneft in a potentially lucrative Arctic exploration alliance. The deadline to move forward with the share swap is Monday at midnight and BP had previously shown a willingness to cede its stake in the Arctic venture to TNK-BP, but...

The S&P 500 is currently on pace to close at a new bull market high for the first time since February 18th. With this milestone, the bull market will officially make it to the two-year mark (the last closing high on 2/18 was two and a half weeks shy of the two-year mark). In the chart below we compare the current bull market to the 25 prior S&P 500 bull markets since 1928. With a gain of about 99% in a little more than two years (778 days), the current bull market ranks right near the middle in terms of duration (11th) and performance (9th). Not including the current period, the average bull market has seen a gain of 101.6% over a period of 890 calendar days.