West Texas Intermediate and Brent crudes climbed after Russia completed annexing Crimea, escalating the worst standoff with the West since the Cold War . WTI rose 0.6 percent and Brent 0.4 percent. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed legislation needed to absorb the Black Sea peninsula and its port of Sevastopol from Ukraine. Futures retreated from the day’s highs after the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slipped from a record. “Crude is up on concern that Putin may decide over the weekend that areas of eastern Ukraine might also prefer to be part of Russia,” said Bill O’Grady, chief market strategist at Confluence Investment Management in St. Louis , which oversees $1.4 billion. WTI for May delivery advanced 56 cents to settle at $99.46 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The April contract expired yesterday after dropping 0.9 percent to $99.43. The volume of all futures traded was […]