Oil and gold rose after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he’s recognizing two self-proclaimed separatist republics in eastern Ukraine and plans to send "peacekeeping forces” to the region in a dramatic escalation of the conflict.
West Texas Intermediate climbed more than 3% from Friday, after not closing Monday due to a U.S. holiday, to above $93 a barrel, while gold touched an eight-month high.
There were no details on how many Russian troops might go in, or when. Moscow has previously accused Ukraine of having a significant deployment of its own soldiers on the line of contact with the separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.