Tonight, for the first night in the last 86, there is no oil known to be flowing (as of this writing) from the blown out BP well in the Gulf of Mexico.  The valves on the new cap on the well have been closed, and BP and the government are now on a 48 hour watch to see what happens:

The data are being particularly closely scrutinized at six-hour intervals. Higher pressure readings mean the well is containing the oil, while lower pressure means some is leaking out.

The “well integrity” test could end after one of the six-hour periods, if the results are disappointing. But it could go on for 48 hours. The longer it goes, the better indications are that the well is holding with a custom-made sealing cap.

But don’t get too excited just yet.  As the CNN article continues:

BP cautioned that the oil cutoff, while welcomed, isn’t lilkely to go beyond the 48 hours. Valves are expected to open after that to resume siphoning oil to two ships on the surface, the Q4000 and Helix Producer, as government and BP officials assess the data and decide what to do next. Two more ships are due to join them in coming weeks, bringing containment capacity to 80,000 barrels of oil a day, more than high-end estimates of how much oil had been leaking.

As bmaz noted earlier this evening, we already have some evidence that the well bore may not be intact, so it is not a given that this test will end successfully.  Oh yeah, I guess we still have all that oil in the Gulf to deal with even if no more comes out.

And if that’s not enough good news, consider this:

Goldman Sachs Group Inc agreed to pay $550 million to settle civil fraud charges over how it marketed a subprime mortgage product, ending months of negotiations that rattled the bank’s clients and investors.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said the penalty was the largest ever for a financial institution, and leaves the door open for future civil suits.

But many investors viewed the $550 million settlement as just a slap on the wrist for a bank that earned more than $13 billion last year.

Yeah, let’s see.  These guys bring the entire world’s economy onto the brink of total collapse, and they are fined less than two weeks’ profit.

Happy days are here again, indeed.