West Texas Intermediate crude slid for a third day as a U.S. agreement with Russia to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons reduced supply risk and on speculation that the Federal Reserve will start tapering stimulus measures.

Prices fell as much as 1 percent. Secretary of State John Kerry said the U.S. isn’t softening its opposition to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad by making a diplomatic deal. Fed policy makers meeting today and tomorrow will probably pare the monthly pace of bond purchases. Crude also fell as Libya opened two oil export ports.

WTI for October delivery dropped 73 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $105.86 a barrel at 10:50 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The volume of all futures traded was 6.4 percent above the 100-day average.

Brent for November settlement slid $1.53, or 1.4 percent, to $108.54 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. Volume was 8.7 percent above the 100-day average. The European benchmark’s premium to WTI shrank to $3.20 from $3.88 yesterday.

Gold prices have stabilized slightly above the five-week low , as investors await news from the Fed about the reduction incentive program .

From the beginning, gold fell by more than 20 per cent as the growing U.S. economy has made the precious metal less attractive as a low-risk assets .

According to economists, the two-day meeting, which will begin on Tuesday , the Fed will reduce the amount of buying bonds of at least $ 10 billion a month from the current $ 85 billion .

Given the current economic situation in the U.S., experts expect only a small reduction in incentives. Therefore, gold will continue to receive support . At the same time, if the Fed does not reduce incentives this year , experts believe that gold at the end of the year will cost $ 1.400-1.500 per ounce.

A peaceful solution to the Syrian problem had a negative impact on the gold market , but the message that former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers , withdrew his candidacy for the post of chairman of the Fed, prices will rise , analysts said.

The cost of the October futures on the COMEX gold is trading today in the range of $ 1306.70 - $ 1323.60 per ounce.

GOLD 1,308.60 0.20 0.02%

OIL (WTI) 106.20 -2.01 -1.86%