• Crude Oil flirts with a weekly gain of 5%, fueled by geopolitical news. 
• Russia has put a Polish military base on top of its target list for the next retaliation. 
• The US Dollar Index broke a fresh two-year high after preliminary European PMIs cast a recession shadow over Europe.

Crude Oil price steadies on Friday and tries to claim the $70 level after surging over 4.5% so far this week, fueled by fresh escalation between Russia and Ukraine. Both countries are rushing to get the tactical upper hand ahead of possible resolution talks once President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January 2025. One of the new elements in the escalation is that Russia apparently has put a Polish (Poland is a NATO member) military base at the top of its target list for any subsequent retaliation if Ukraine attacks again, Yahoo News reports. 

Meanwhile, the US Dollar Index (DXY) is firmly up after European preliminary Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) numbers came in substantially below estimates in November. The data suggests that business activity in the Eurozone Manufacturing and Services sectors contracted, fueling the US exceptionalism with an inflow in the US Dollar. Later on Friday, the US PMI numbers are going to be released and might fuel a second round of inflow in case of an upbeat surprise.