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Brent is at $59.30 right now. Last seen in December.

the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said its UK house-price balance fell to +7 last month from +12 in December, showing that growth - while still positive - slowed to its lowest level since May 2013. Analysts had expected no change and cited a bad read-across for housebuilders and estate agents, especially those exposed to London.

House purchase approvals dropped 12.9 per cent year-on-year in January – the fifth consecutive month where they have fallen on an annual basis. According to e.surv, there were 65,778 approvals for house purchase last month, compared to 75,557 a year earlier.

Key points from Mr Carney: o Borrowing rates at or near historical lows. o GDP prediction stronger than November. o Two-thirds of gap between current inflation and target of 2% is explained by falls in food and energy prices. Balance of gap is subdued inflation pressures. o Core inflation about 1.3% - because of muted wage growth and high unemployment.

The number of repossessions in 2014 fell 26 per cent compared with the year before. According to figures published today by the Council of Mortgage Lenders, 21,000 homes were taken into repossession last year, compared with 28,900 the year before.

Zoopla Property Group Plc (ZPLA.L) Announced, in its trading statement based on performance of the business between 1 October 2014 and 31 January 2015, that the group has grown its reach and audience significantly, resulting in record levels of consumer traffic to its websites and mobile apps, with 42.3 million average monthly visits during the Period, an increase of 14% compared with the same period last year and with a record total of 50.5 million visits during January. Mobile devices now account for over 60% of the monthly visits and are up 42% compared with the same period last year, as consumers continue to use the group's services to search and research the property market at work, home and on the move. The company further stated that the group is trading in line with management expectations and is well positioned for long-term growth.

Rio Tinto PLC (RIO.L) Announced, in its final results for the year ended 31 December 2014, that its reported revenue from continuing operations stood at $47,664 million, compared to $51,171 million in the preceding year. Operating profit stood at $11,346 million, compared to $7,430 million. Profit after tax was $6,499 million compared to $1,079 million. The company’s diluted earnings per share was 351.2c, compared to 197.3c.

Strong performance from its growth brands in the first quarter has left Imperial Tobacco confident of hitting its full-year targets. Underlying tobacco volumes for the quarter were down almost 4% as the FTSE 100 group maintained a stable overall market share, with tobacco net revenue down 1%.

Derwent and LaSalle agree to Farringdon property swap deal: Derwent London agreed a property swap with LaSalle Investment Management to acquire the leasehold on a property in Farringdon and dispose of its stakes in three other properties.

Stalling London house market falls behind Northern Ireland’s: The Scottish and Northern Irish housing markets are more buoyant than the stalled sector in London, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said.

Downton Abbey boosts Dunelm: Downton Abbey has boosted sales for Dunelm, sending shares in the homeware group in the same direction as the global audience figures for the ITV show – sharply upwards. In truth though, Dunelm’s success is about far more than Downton Abbey. The company has carved out a foothold in a U.K. market packed with competition from department stores, DIY chains, and online retailers. Bill Adderley, now a major shareholder in M&S, and Jean handed over control of the business to their son Will Adderley in 1996. Will regained day-to-day control of the retailer last year after sales stalled and Chief Executive Nick Wharton departed. Will Adderley struck a defiant tone as Dunelm posted its half year results. He said the company’s focus was now “emphatically on growth” and has set the medium-term target of growing sales by 50% and expanding to 200 stores. This ambitious plan has positive and negatives for investors. The downside is that growing sales will not come for free. The Dunelm Boss warned that for the remainder of the financial year the benefits of top-line growth will be “largely absorbed by increases in operating costs”. However, the upside is that if Dunelm achieves this sales growth then eventually profits should also increase sharply and shareholders will enjoy the rewards. Dunelm shares are not overly cheap, trading at 19 times estimated earnings and have a dividend yield of 2.4%. But as the residents of Downton Abbey would say, quality comes at a price. Questor Says “Buy”.

Shell Chief: oil to stay at current lows for rest of year: Oil prices are set to remain at the current six-year lows for the rest of 2015, the Boss of the country’s largest oil and gas company will warn tonight.

Reckitt Benckiser: soft soap: Congratulations to consumer goods group Reckitt Benckiser for taking corporate vagueness to a whole new level. Does “nice” mean 50 basis points? 100? 200? Or perhaps 10? Who knows. One can only hope that the targets applied to Chief Executive Rakesh Kapoor’s bonus are somewhat firmer. All this (and perhaps more) is necessary because top line growth in the sector has been slowing, according to data from Jefferies. Developed markets have been tough for a while, and emerging markets are no longer the saviour that they once were. While some of the smaller companies are growing nicely, the likes of Unilever and Procter & Gamble are making only slow progress. Sales at the former rose 2% last year (before the impact of currency changes); sales at the latter are growing at a similar rate. Reckitt Benckiser, with its focus on attractive markets such as health and hygiene, managed to eke out sales growth of 4% last year and is promising something similar in 2015. A little sales growth and a “nice” increase in margins (say 75 basis points, but really it could be anything at all) might add up to something decent. If Reckitt could do both, it might be producing net profits of about £1.75 billion this year. That puts it on a prospective PE multiple of 24, not far out of kilter with other large consumer staples companies. But this is an industry for which cost cutting is an increasingly important part of the investment case. The sorts of multiples enjoyed by Reckitt and its peers no longer look quite so nice.

Arm: not an economy set of wheels: Arm is, in effect, an outsourced research department for makers of low power semiconductors. Most smartphones and tablets contain Arm intellectual property — it has an 85% market share in mobile. It makes money by selling licences and collecting royalties. On Wednesday, Arm reported £1.3 billion in revenues for 2014, beating expectations. Revenues and profits grew 16% and 13%, respectively. Is that enough to support the stock’s revved up valuation of 36 times forward earnings? The argument in favour is that Arm’s technology has become an industry standard — analogous to Qualcomm’s wireless technology, Microsoft’s operating systems, or Intel’s X-86 chips. Such businesses make very high, very steady profits for a very long time. The other worry is that Arm’s technology ceases to be the industry standard. Intel is challenging Arm in mobile, for example. So far, Intel — despite, in effect, unlimited funds — has failed. In 2014 Intel’s mobile segment had $202 million in revenue and $4.2 billion in losses. If Intel soldiers on despite this, it could squeeze Arm’s revenues but — if the example of Qualcomm, Microsoft, and Intel are any indication — will not displace it. Arm is looking to new markets such as servers. These markets will be tough, making the mobile business look all the more expensive. But it shows no sign of slowing down. Vroom, vroom.

Browne calls for extra North Sea tax to be scrapped: Lord Browne, former Chief Executive of BP, has called on the government to scrap a supplementary tax on North Sea oil and gas revenues, warning that the recent plunge in crude prices had done “permanent damage” to the region’s ageing fields.

Balfour Beatty selects Aveva’s Philip Aiken as Chairman: Balfour Beatty has tapped Aveva Group head Philip Aiken as its incoming Chairman, just weeks after issuing a profit warning and announcing the arrival of its new Chief Executive.

Shell and BP in stand-off with Abu Dhabi over signing-on fee: Two of the world’s biggest oil companies, Royal Dutch Shell and BP, are fiercely resisting efforts by Abu Dhabi to get them to pay a multibillion-dollar signing-on fee for a stake in developing the emirate’s biggest onshore fields.

America pours more crude into global glut: Oil prices fell after it emerged that America’s stockpiles had risen to a record high, threatening to end the mini rally of the past fortnight.

UK house price balance fell surprisingly in January In January, house price balance dropped unexpectedly to a level of 7.00 in the UK, lower than market expectations of an unchanged reading. House price balance had registered a revised reading of 12.00 in the prior month.

At 0430GMT today, Brent crude oil one month futures contract is trading 0.77% or $0.42 higher at $55.08 per barrel. Yesterday, the contract declined 3.14% or $1.77, to settle at $54.66 per barrel, after the Energy Information Administration reported that US crude oil stockpiles rose 4.87 million barrels in the week ended February 6.