Iraq

Coming on the sixth year anniversary of the infamous "Cablegate", when on this day in 2010 Wikileaks made global headlines when it unveiled classified cables sent to the US State Department, revealing assessments of countries and details of eavesdropping, this morning WikiLeaks released more than half a million US diplomatic cables from 1979, covering various diplomatic events and incidents such as the Iranian revolution, Osama bin Ladin's departure of his native Saudi Arabia for Pakistan to support the Mujahideen, the siege of Mecca, Saddam Hussein becoming president of Iraq and much more.

Confirming media rumors that in addition to the ongoing battle between Romney and Giulianni for the position of Secretary of State, which had led to media fallout implicating Trump media aide Kellyanne Conway who allegedly "went rogue" by bashing Romney on Twitter and on the TV circuit over the weekend, Bloomberg reports that Trump is set to meet with General David Petraeus, whom he is now considering for the position of secretary of state.

ISIS have claimed responsibility for a truck bomb attack south of the Iraqi capital which killed around 100 people, mostly Shia pilgrims. Massive Car #Blast Kills 21 People South of #Iraq’s #Baghdad, #ISIS Claims Responsibility – https://t.co/kD5SGgWSCe pic.twitter.com/Ss73CweOFL — #Alalam (@AlalamChannel) November 24, 2016 According to security sources, a truck loaded with explosives went off on Thursday at a gas station in the city of Hilla southeast of the capital Baghdad. Reports say most of the victims were Iranian nationals.

A crude draw and bigger than expected gasoline build overnight from API did nothing for oil prices as OPEC headlines dominate trading and DOE data confirmed API with a modest crude draw and bigger than expected Gasoline build. Oil prices are rising on Iraq headlines even as crude production rose very modestly.

API

• Crude -1.28mm (+1mm exp)
• Cushing -140k (-100k exp)
• Gasoline +2.68mm (+900k exp)
• Distillates -350k

DOE

In a quiet overnight session in which Japan was closed, European shares are mixed as financials and auto weigh, Asian stocks rise led by materials while S&P futures little changed against a backdrop of the continuing commodity rally with oil holding near $48 a barrel, up fractionally on the session. Against a basket of currencies, the dollar index was up slightly at 101.12, very close to a 14-year peak. The dollar also kept most of its recent hefty gains on the yen at 111.05 though it has met resistance around 111.35 in the last couple of sessions