Oil output cuts, Trump chooses Tillerson and more

Oil output cuts, Trump chooses Tillerson and Iran Air's billion-dollar buy. This is what you need to know before the bell.

Crude oil has rallied after Saudi Arabia hinted it's is willing to cut output more than previously indicated and Russian threw its support behind an OPEC reduction for the first time in 15 years. The collective agreements will see more than 1.6 million barrels of oil taken from the market each day starting in January.

The race to be Donald Trump's Secretary of State has just gotten even more competitive, as sources close to the transition process claim that Rex Tillerson, Chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil, is the leading candidate. With the final announcement expected later this week -- and Reince Preibus apparently urging Trump to choose Mitt Romney -- we'll just have to wait and see whom the President-elect chooses.

The biggest deal Iran has struck with an American company since the 1979 revolution was finalised on Sunday, as state-owned Iran Air agreed to buy $16.6 billion worth of passenger planes from Boeing. This comes after the US and other world powers agreed to lift certain sanctions on the Islamic Republic which have crippled its aviation industry,

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Edward Hardy reporting for TheStreet in London