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Global oil prices advanced Thursday as WTI crude climbed towards $95 a barrel after stockpiles dropped in the US.

Light sweet crude for August delivery was seen trading at $94.92 a barrel at 12.30 p.m Singapore time while Brent crude was at $112.21 a barrel in London.

Analysts said dip in US crude inventories supported the black gold while Greece’s approval, of an austerity plan also helped it.

They added that London’s Brent crude dipped temporarily but could come back on growing optimism that the debt crisis in Greece will be resolved, thereby avoiding a contagion in Europe.

US Energy Department on Wednesday said crude inventories fell last week for a fourth week, dropping a larger-than-expected 4.4 million barrels. Gas

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This is the highest monthly surplus ever recorded and the highest in almost 20 years as a percentage of exports. Contributing to the surplus, exports in April 2011 reached $4.7 billion, also a new high.

The total value of goods exported in April 2011 rose $691 million (17 percent) from April 2010, across a range of commodities, led by the milk powder, butter, and cheese commodity group.

The total value of goods imported in April 2011 rose $238 million (7.2 percent) from April 2010, to $3.5 billion, led by increases in petroleum and products values.

The trends for export and import values have continued to increase since their most recent low points in September 2009. Read more info…

Here’s a concept that most readers of financial blogs will be familiar with – buy term and invest the difference. It’s a concept that came in to fashion in the 1980′s and is still going strong in some corners of the financial world. The end decision in all cases behind this concept though, is that term insurance is the best life insurance product.

Now think about that for a second. Do you believe that term insurance and investing the difference is the best product for everyone, 100% of the time? I think most folks will agree that this can’t be the case. And yet buy term invest the difference proponents ALWAYS arrive at the conclusion that term life insurance is your best buy. Doesn’t t

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One of the most important things a home buyer can do before putting in an offer is having the property inspected by a certified home inspector. Typically the more complex a house or property is, the more inspections will be needed. To ensure that the report is valid, confirm that the inspector is recognized by an organization like the American Society of Home Inspectors.

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Ratings agency Standards and Poor’s have poured more fuel on the sovereign debt crisis in Europe by a further downgrade of Greece’s credit rating. S and P has dropped Greece’s rating by a further three notches to CCC making it the worst credit “risk” of all of the world’s developed nations. Standard and Poor’s have taken the view that any “re-profiling” of Greece’s debt obligations would be regarded as a default since investors would be likely to receive less from their investments than anticipated (a safe bet, since that would be the purpose of the move). In these terms, S and P is predicting that Greece will default at least once before 2013. Obviously, any default, even a “technical” default in a Eurozone country is likely to send shockwaves through financial markets and could lead to a depreciation of the Euro.

However, despite the Cassandra sayings of the ratings agencies, investors seem to be taking a broadly bullish stance on the long-term strength of the Euro. Each new chapter of the saga is met by an initial dip in the value of the Euro, but the position has usually reversed after just a few weeks.

The Greek authorities are understandably furious over the S and P move. In a statement, the Greek Ministry of Finance said, “The decision ignores the intense consultations taking place currently between the same institutions and the IMF aimed at designing a viable solution that will cover the financing needs of Greece in the coming years.”

It is becoming increasingly clear that Greece will need further assistance to overcome its €340 billion debt problem. This may involve some reduction in the returns that investors can expect, but any investment (even an AAA rated bond) carries a downside risk. There is no inherent reason why losses should not be passed on to investors, but a nation state is not quite the same as “any other company” and the ramifications of any default – even a technical one – will need to be clearly thought through.