May 20 (Bloomberg) -- BP Plc is capturing 5,000 barrels of oil a day from its leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico. The company couldn’t say whether that was all of the spill from the well, which has been estimated to be leaking at that rate.

“That’s 5,000 barrels a day of oil that is not going onto the sea bed,” said Mark Salt, a spokesman in Houston for BP. “We are continuing to optimize the flow.”

The oil is flowing into a drillship on the surface via a mile-long tube inserted May 16. The ship also is flaring natural gas from the well at a rate of 15 million cubic feet a day, said Salt. BP, based in London, yesterday estimated the daily flow to the drill ship at 3,000 barrels a day and 14 million cubic feet of gas.
The company and federal agencies have been estimating the spill rate at 5,000 barrels a day since April 28. That figure is disputed by independent scientists, including Purdue University Associate Professor Steve Wereley, based on video of the leaking well. Wereley has estimated oil is leaking at more than 10 times that rate.

The well is off the coast of Louisiana, about 5,000 feet (1,524 meters) below the water’s surface. It began leaking after an April 20 explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, which caused the rig to sink and resulted in the deaths of 11 workers.

The inability of euro-zone leaders to agree on policy, highlighted by Germany's unilateral decision Tuesday to ban naked short-selling, has triggered worries about additional regulation and pressured the euro, which shed 0.9 percent versus the dollar.

"Let's face it, it's tough to coordinate all those countries, reserve banks, different Feds," said Kevin Kruszenski, head of listed trading at KeyBanc Capital Markets in Cleveland.

"You hear the cliche the markets hate uncertainty, and there is a whole hill of it over there right now."

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI dropped 262.70 points, or 2.52 percent, to 10,181.67. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX lost 30.93 points, or 2.77 percent, to 1,084.12. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC fell 72.64 points, or 3.16 percent, to 2,225.73.

May individual equity options and some options on stock indexes stop trading at Friday's close and expire on Saturday, which may increase volatility.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility index .VIX, often referred to as Wall Street's fear gauge, rose to its highest intraday level since April 2009.

The recent slide has dragged the S&P 500 index 11.1 percent lower from its 2010 closing high on April 23. A drop of 10 percent from the most recent high is widely considered to be a correction.

Banks and commodity related stocks were among the hardest hit, with the KBW Bank index .BKX losing 3.8 percent. The S&P Energy index .GSPE fell 3.6 percent.

Sears Holdings Corp (SHLD.O) tumbled 6.9 percent to $92.68 after the company said first-quarter profit slipped 38 percent, hit by weaker margins and slightly higher costs.
Labor Department data on Thursday showed the number of U.S. workers filing new applications for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week for the first time since early April, increasing by 25,000 to a seasonally adjusted 471,000 versus market expectations of 440,000.

The Conference Board said its index of leading economic indicators slipped 0.1 percent last month while factory activity in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region accelerated less than expected in May.