Oil, natural-gas and agricultural prices rose as escalating tensions over Ukraine threatened to disrupt flows of natural resources from Eastern Europe to world markets.
Futures for Brent crude, the benchmark in international energy markets, added $1.45 a barrel, or 1.5%, to settle at $96.84 and earlier climbed to $99.50, their highest level since 2014. In Europe, natural-gas prices rose 10% to €80, equivalent to $91.65, per megawatt-hour after Germany halted the Nord Stream 2 pipeline in response to Russian aggression against Ukraine.