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At 0330GMT today, Brent crude oil one month futures contract is trading 0.89% or $0.43 lower at $47.80 per barrel, ahead of the Energy Information Administration weekly oil inventory data, scheduled to be released later today. Yesterday, the contract climbed 1.88% or $0.89, to settle at $48.23 per barrel, amid hopes that data would indicate a further drop in the US crude oil production

Edinburgh oil and gas firm makes fresh discovery in Cameroon: Bowleven has made a second find in quick succession in West Africa. The Edinburgh-based oil and gas company said the Moambe well on the Bomono permit in Cameroon had encountered hydrocarbons, without giving any estimate of the potential size of the find.

Ben’s bear behind: Ben van Beurden is pulling Shell out of the Arctic after failing to find oil in commercial quantities off Alaska. A decade-long escapade on ice is over. The Chief Executive still hopes to lead Shell out of the frozen wastes to a brighter future. But that ambition is melting at the edges. Mr van Beurden had no power to influence the outcome of drilling at the Burger J prospect in the Chukchi Sea. But Shell has shown decision in signalling its withdrawal from the Arctic. It has other prospects there. It will not pursue them. At the same time, Shell has lost a notional 4.3 billion barrels of oil once believed to lurk at Burger J. The cost of tapping these had been estimated at anything from $55 to $100 a barrel. The BG takeover, also intended to replenish a dwindling production pipeline, was predicated on a price of $70 to $110 a barrel. Mr van Beurden has to juggle the need to secure future supplies with his obligation to keep up dividend payments costing north of $11 billion a year, according to S&P CIQ. Underlying earnings are heading south towards that figure. Shakespeare resolved all contradictions with stage magic in The Winter’s Tale, the play that includes the famous direction “exit, pursued by a bear”. Mr van Beurden, in contrast, is reliant on skill — and liberal helpings of luck — for a happy ending.

SWFs: oil be off now: Saudi Arabia is feeling the pinch from falling oil prices. The country’s sovereign wealth fund, Sama, has withdrawn between $50 billion and $70 billion from its investments over the past six months. That is near one-tenth of the fund’s total assets. This year, a study from Invesco said that nearly three-quarters of sovereign funds surveyed expected funding flows to fall in the future. Two-thirds of highly oil-dependent funds based outside North America expected outright withdrawals if the oil price stayed below $40 a barrel for two years. Specific losers from the shift are harder to establish. SWFs remain tight-lipped regarding their investments. A preference for more liquid assets would stimulate outflows from investments requiring longer term commitment, including private equity and emerging markets — SWFs have a weighting of one-tenth in the latter, says Invesco. Emerging market exchange traded funds have already been hit by retail outflows of $19 billion this year and institutional investors are the most underweight they have been in emerging market stocks since 2005, a BofA fund Managers’ survey finds.

Sales of £1 million homes slump after stamp duty increase: The high-end property market is declining sharply as higher stamp duty rates deter wealthy buyers.

Buy-to-let market booming despite tax clampdown: Buy-to-let borrowing has surged since the budget as George Osborne’s tax crackdown on landlords has failed to cool demand

Saudi Arabia feels pain of oil price war: Saudi Arabia is estimated to have pulled tens of billions of dollars from western fund Managers as it tries to cut its deficit amid a halving of the oil price.

At 0330GMT today, Brent crude oil one month futures contract is trading 0.06% or $0.03 higher at $47.37 per barrel, ahead of the American Petroleum Institute weekly oil inventory data, scheduled to be released later today. Yesterday, the contract declined 2.59% or $1.26, to settle at $47.34 per barrel, amid demand concerns from slowing global economy.

FTB transactions at 8-year high The number of first-time buyer (FTB) sales during August leapt by 27.4% compared with May and by 11.9% on an annual basis, making it the strongest summer for this demographic in eight years. The figures, from Your Move and Reeds Rains' latest First-Time Buyer Tracker, show that 30,200 FTB transactions took place during the month, up from 23,700 in May, and matching the 30,200 figure of July. This not only means that FTBs continue to be buoyed from the result of the general election, but that the number of completed transactions remains at its post-recession high for a second month running. The figures also reveal that the average purchase price continues to rise - up by 1.4% on a monthly basis and 2.9% quarterly - and now stands at £153,999, which has led to a subsequent increase in average deposit (up 2% month-on-month to £26,741). However, affordability doesn't appear to have been negatively impacted, with the proportion of income spent on mortgage repayments being 0.2% lower than in May and 1.6% lower year-on-year, arguably helped by the average mortgage rate falling considerably over the same period. Now standing at 3.35%, this is down 0.08% on July, and a notable reduction of 0.85% from this time last year. "An end-of-summer surge in first-time buyer activity is in full swing," commented Adrian Gill, director of Your Move and Reeds Rains. "Rising deposit costs and average house prices are encouraging economic signs, [as] they point to rising real-terms pay and overall consumer confidence."

Saudi Arabia has withdrawn tens of billions of dollars from global asset managers as the oil-rich kingdom seeks to cut its widening deficit and reduce exposure to volatile equities markets amid the sustained slump in oil prices. The Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency's foreign reserves have slumped by nearly $73bn since oil prices started to decline last year as the kingdom keeps spending to sustain the economy and fund its military campaign in Yemen.

Shell will stop further exploration activity in offshore Alaska. The oil major announced on Monday it had found indications of oil and gas in the Burger J prospect, but not enough to warrant further exploration. As a result of that, as well as the high costs associated with the project and the challenging and unpredictable federal regulatory environment in offshore Alaska, the oil giant has decided to stop exploration in the area. Shell Upstream Americas director Marvin Odum said the company continues to see potential in the basin and the area is likely to be strategically important for Alaska and the US. "However, this is a clearly disappointing exploration outcome for this part of the basin." The company said it expected to take financial charges as a result of this announcement and an update will be provided with the third quarter results.

Property lending showing signs of rebound as banks resume financing: Lending to the property sector is showing signs of recovery as the long-term decline in bank finance begins to slow, says commercial law firm EMW.

Hike in stamp duty is bad for Britain’s booming luxury markets, says Harrods Boss: A stamp duty tax raid on the London property market by Chancellor George Osborne could damage Britain’s booming luxury markets by putting off wealthy visitors, the managing Director of Harrods has warned. Michael Ward has complained that the decision to hike stamp duty on properties worth upwards of £2 million has sent a ‘worrying signal’ abroad

U.K. interest rate rise unlikely until May 2016, CEBR forecasts: The Bank of England is likely to keep interest rates on hold until the middle of next year rather than raising them sooner, following a gloomier outlook for the global economy, according to the economic forecaster CEBR.

Scramble for cheap deals on mortgages: Banks and building societies have granted mortgages at the fastest pace in seven years as buyers and homeowners lock in cheap deals before a possible rate increase. Figures from the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) showed that gross mortgage lending hit £12.2 billion in August, 14% higher than a year ago and the largest annual increase since 2008.

At 0330GMT today, Brent crude oil one month futures contract is trading 0.93% or $0.45 lower at $48.15 per barrel. On Friday, the contract climbed 0.89% or $0.43, to settle at $48.60 per barrel, after Baker Hughes reported that the number of active US oil rigs fell by 4 to reach 640 for the week ended 25 September

Britain's buy-to-let £200 billion mortgage boom now equivalent to economy of Hong Kong: Britain’s outstanding buy-to-let loans have now topped £200 billion - equivalent to the entire GDP of Hong Kong - according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).

Starbucks to help staff by paying rent deposits: Starbucks is to start providing interest-free loans to its employees to help them afford the cost of a deposit on a rental property. The coffee chain has also said that it will pay all of its U.K. staff the living wage from spring next year, meaning a pay-rise for around 4,500 employees.

Bank of England warns buy-to-let is the next big threat to U.K. financial stability: The Bank of England has warned that Britain’s buy-to-let market poses an increasing threat to financial stability because rising property prices expose vulnerabilities that could magnify a housing market crash.

Builder roars back to City with £1 billion float: One of Britain’s biggest housebuilders has hired a roster of heavyweight advisers as it prepares to launch a £1 billion stock market float. Countryside Properties, which was bought out of Lloyds bank by the American private equity firm Oaktree Capital two years ago, has drafted in investment bankers from HSBC, JP Morgan, Numis and Barclays to plan a listing early next year.