ONS said annual inflation rose to 2.9% in July, matching market expectations and up from 2.6% in June, mainly driven by a 13% increase in Ofgem’s price cap on household gas and electricity bills that took effect on July 1.

Iranian parliament speaker Ghalibaf said Iran and Iraq are taking significant steps toward self-reliant security and shared prosperity.

Wall Street Journal reports global diesel supplies are tightening, with disruptions to Russian and Middle East flows increasing competition for US diesel as winter approaches. OPIS (Dow Jones price service) shows the European diesel benchmark rose to $167/bbl late last week from about $87/bbl a year earlier; the Northwest Europe diesel crack was roughly $90/bbl on Friday versus an average near $24/bbl last year. Unusually rich refining margins are pushing US refiners to export more product: US distillate exports jumped to a record c.1.9 mln b/d in the first week of August, cutting domestic buffers. US distillate inventories are at the lowest seasonal level in about 30 years. BofA says the market is entering peak seasonal demand with very limited room for error.