Wall Street Today | Oil, gold advance as Putin orders forces to regions of Ukraine

Stocks declined Tuesday on intensifying tension between the West and Russia over Ukraine, a standoff that's bolstering oil prices and leading investors to seek the relative safety of bonds and gold.

Equities in Japan, Australia and South Korea fell, while U.S. futures pointed to a lower open when Wall Street trading resumes later following a holiday Monday.

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 near $94 a barrel, while gold touched an eight-month high. There were no details on how many Russian troops might go in, or when.

Russian stocks plunge 11% as tensions flare over Ukraine

The Moex index plunged as much as 14.2% after Moscow claimed that it had destroyed two Ukrainian military vehicles that entered Russian territory, in an unconfirmed incident that would be the first direct clash with Ukrainian forces since Moscow mobilised 190,000 troops on its border.

The index closed the main trading session down 10.5 per cent in the biggest one-day fall since Russia seized Crimea in 2014, according to Refinitiv data.

Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman suggested that a half percentage-point increase in interest rates could be on the table next month if incoming readings on inflation come in too high.

"I support raising the federal funds rate at our next meeting in March and, if the economy evolves as I expect, additional rate increases will be appropriate in the coming months," said Bowman.

Botswana's state-run diamond trader reported record revenue last year with sales surging almost five fold after U.S. imports recovered from a Covid-19 induced slowdown. "The demand for natural rough diamonds remained strong throughout 2021 driven primarily by positive market sentiment in key markets such as the United States," Tlaang said.

Sales may rise further this year after De Beers, the world's biggest producer of the stones, pushed through one of its most aggressive diamond price increases in recent years.

Donald Trump's new social media venture, Truth Social, launched late on Sunday in Apple's App Store. The app was available shortly before midnight ET and was the top free app available on the App Store early Monday.

Truth Social was automatically downloaded to Apple devices belonging to users who had pre-ordered the app. Many users reported either having trouble registering for an account or were added to a waitlist with a message: "Due to massive demand, we have placed you on our waitlist."

Crypto exchange FTX is launching its own gaming unit, aimed at encouraging more game publishers to embrace cryptocurrencies, blockchain networks and non-fungible tokens.

"We are launching FTX Gaming because we see games as an exciting use case for crypto," an FTX spokesperson said in an email. "There are 2 billion+ gamers in the world who have played with and collected digital items, and can now also own them."

Source: Bloomberg, CNBC