There has been a hint that oil cartel OPEC might, just might, be prepared to cut back output, providing a boost to the oil price.
OPEC, or more accurately Saudi Arabia, has been adamant that a collapsing oil price was a price worth paying to drive the US shale producers out of the market, but Iraq's oil minister Adel Abdel Mahdi has hinted that if Russia is prepared to choke back its production, OPEC might do likewise.
"We have seen some flexibility from the brothers in Saudi and a change in tone from Russia,” the oil minister said.
Believe it when you see it, and not before, others said.
Nevertheless, Abdullah al-Badri, OPEC’s secretary-general, indicated that a deal might be on after oil prices came off by almost three-quarters since the middle of 2014.
“It is crucial that all major producers sit down and come up with a solution,” he said at a conference in London.
As oil prices continue to plunge, UK house prices continue to rise, with the Nationwide Building Society indicating that the average house price in the UK has risen close to £200,000.
The actual figure is £196,829, which would get you a broom cupboard in Kensington but a decent sized property in other parts of the UK.
The rate of growth in house prices slowed a little in January, rising 0.3% month-on-month but the Nationwide said it expects the market to heat up again in the coming months, as “the labour market appears to have significant forward momentum,” according to Robert Gardner, Nationwide's chief economist.
Property values were 4.4% higher year-on-year in January, according to the Nationwide.
Coincidentally, the Paragon Group of Companies (LON:PAG), a lender that specialises in buy-to-let mortgages, issued a trading statement that said the credit performance of its buy-to-let portfolio “remains exemplary”.
Total buy-to-let redemptions grew slightly in the final quarter of 2015 to £175.8 million from the £170.1 million reported in the quarter to September 2015, representing an annualised rate of 7.5%.
The group expects the redemption rate for its new lending portfolio to move towards more normalised levels as, in Paragon's words, the portfolio seasons.
Now there's an interesting image: adding seasoning to a mortgage portfolio.
As well as Paragon's trading update, private investors are also tuning into the quarterly metrics release from crowd-sourcing platform developer blur Group (LON:BLUR).
Judging by the share price reaction – up 13.6% - the metrics are good, and the company is not adverse to a bit of interesting terminology of its own, though in its case the theme appears to be sporting (cricket and football) rather than cooking.
So, we have 104 projects “pitching on” in the fourth quarter, down from 117 in the third, and 97 projects “kicked off”, down from 100.
On the face of it, those numbers do not seem to justify the share price reaction, but if you delve a bit deeper, you find that trends in the enterprise section – blur defines enterprise customers as any that have a workforce of at least 50 – are a lot better.
“Pitching on” - up 12.3% quarter on quarter.
“Kicked off” - up 36.2%.
Completed – up 10%.
The Enterprise market is where the big money is, so, the numbers have bowled a bit of a googly – a term that has nothing to do with tax dodging; if you are unsure what it means, look it up on the Duckduckgo.com search engine.