Oil prices rose above $53 a barrel Thursday as encouraging U.S. data on durable goods orders and home sales spurred hopes for a recovery in crude demand.

Benchmark crude for May delivery was up 85 cents to $53.62 a barrel by mid-afternoon in Europe in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In London, Brent prices rose $1.22 to $52.97 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

Gains in global stock markets also supported oil prices, and the uptick in sentiment appeared to be enough to temper concerns over sharply accumulating inventories in the U.S., although analysts warned this may not last.

“Without the continued support of equities, crude oil should have more difficulties to move above the $55-a-barrel mark as the fundamentals are not yet providing enough evidence of a tightening market,” said Olivier Jakob of Petromatrix in Switzerland.

Oil prices fell Wednesday — the contract lost $1.21 to settle at $52.77 a barrel — on news that crude in storage last week rose 3.3 million barrels to 356.6 million barrels, according to the Energy Information Administration Wednesday, much more than what was expected. The figure marks a 15.6 percent rise from year-ago levels, and stockpiles are now at their highest level since 1993.

But traders seemed to shake that off amid hopeful signs in the United States, the world’s biggest oil consumer.

Durable goods orders increased a better-than-expected 3.4 percent last month, the first advance since July and the strongest one-month gain in 14 months, the Commerce Department said. New home sales also rebounded, rising 4.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 337,000.

“We could see today the rally go slightly higher from here on yesterday’s figures,” said Christoffer Moltke-Leth, head of sales trading at Saxo Capital Markets in Singapore. “You have a little modest rally in Asia on the back of that, and that’s sort of helping crude a bit.”

Most Asian markets gained after a late rally on Wall Street Wednesday that lifted the Dow Jones industrials 1.2 percent, while European markets were little changed.

But Moltke-Leth warned against reading too much into Thursday’s bump. He predicted that prices will be capped around $55 and could fall as low as $43 a barrel over the next two weeks as other big countries release key economic indicators that could very likely be grim.

“Traders are so desperate that they are now buying, not on fundamentals, but rather on fear of missing out before this market heads back into the toilet,” said The Schork Report, edited by U.S. oil analyst and trader Stephen Schork.

Japan, which said exports plunged by nearly half in February, will release a quarterly business sentiment survey called the “tankan” next Wednesday that experts say is likely to be quite gloomy.

19 Mar 2009

AIB has upped the ante in a battle among the banks for first-time buyers, who are being told it is now much cheaper to buy than rent.

The rate on AIB’s one-year fixed rate for owner occupiers has been cut to a market leading 2.40%, just below that of Bank of Ireland.

A e200,000, 30-year mortgage will now cost e780 a month. When the mortgage interest relief of e99 in years one and two for first-time buyer couples is deducted, the payment would be e681.

According to the latest Daft.ie rent review the average rent nationally is e885. It said rent for a three-bed house in Munster is e765, while the same property in Dublin 6 would be e1,890 per month.

Director of the Irish Mortgage Corporation Frank Conway said: “With interest rates going so low, the cost of buying can now be significantly less than renting.

“On a number of Dublin properties, it can be anywhere up to 25% or 30% less to buy a property than to rent it, when the full value of mortgage interest relief is factored in. Property prices have also been slashed, with some sellers reducing prices by 30% or more.”

AIB said it has seen a “substantial lift” in the numbers of first-time buyers coming to them for a mortgage since the end of last year, adding that one in five of all new mortgages offered are in this market.

AIB also said that it is passing on the 0.50% ECB rate cut that was announced two weeks ago on some of its products from last night.

Tracker mortgages and the standard variable rate (SVR) for owner occupier mortgages both dropped by 0.50% but the SVR for residential buy-to-let mortgages is being cut by just 0.25% to 4.20%.

The bank is also reducing its three year fixed rate for owner occupiers from 3.35% to 3.10%.

Interest rates set to hit 1pc under new ECB cuts

23 Mar 2009

INTEREST rates look set for another fall next month - perhaps to 1pc - after the chief of the German central bank said the ECB was prepared to cut again.

18 Mar 2009

Irish Independent

European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said policy makers haven’t decided whether to stop cutting interest rates below the current record low of 1.5 percent.

IF THE looming spectre of rising unemployment is weighing heavily on your mind, and you’re worried about how you’ll meet your mortgage repayments if you end up on the firing line, a form of insurance known as mortgage payment protection will seem very tempting. But do you really need it?

Not to be confused with mortgage protection, which is a compulsory life assurance policy that will clear your home loan in the event of your death, mortgage payment protection insurance is an added extra. The idea is that it will cover your mortgage repayments, usually for 12 months, in the event of an accident, illness or involuntary unemployment.

This will no doubt give you peace if you’re concerned about your job security, but it’s important to do your research before signing up for this extra expense or it may not turn out to be safety net you hoped for. “

THE cost of redundancy insurance cover, which is supposed to pay a mortgage for a year when someone loses a job, is set to surge by 40pc.

Known as mortgage repayment protection, this type of policy is supposed to cover mortgage repayments if the insured person loses their job through redundancy, an accident or sickness.

It is different to mortgage protection, which is a life policy designed to pay off a mortgage if the policy holder dies.

There has been a huge surge in sales of mortgage repayment protection, or job-loss cover, as more people worried about their jobs.

Mortgage repayment insurance had been priced on the basis of unemployment reaching 5pc, but that figure has now almost doubled.

Chief executive of the Professional Insurance Brokers’ Association (PIBA) Diarmuid Kelly said the cost of the insurance was likely to rise by up to 40pc. He said there had been a surge in sales since the middle of last year, but claims have started to rise sharply as more people are made redundant.

PIBA, which sells a product underwritten by British company Cardif Pinnacle, said the premium rises were likely to hit existing customers along with those who take it out for the first time.

The cost of job loss cover is based on the monthly mortgage repayment amount. Up to now, most insurers were charging €4.75 per €100 of monthly mortgage repayments covered. This would mean someone with monthly mortgage repayments of €1,000 would end up paying €47.50 a month for the cover. A rise of 40pc would mean this monthly premium rising to €66.50.