West Texas Intermediate crude fell from a three-week high. The U.S. benchmark widened its discount to Brent as the European Union warned that Russia risks growing isolation over the downing of Malaysian Air flight MH17.

The EU pressed President Vladimir Putin to speed a probe into the downing of the plane as European foreign ministers met in Brussels to discuss further sanctions against Russia. U.S. crude supplies may have decreased 2.9 million barrels last week, according to a Bloomberg survey before a government report tomorrow.

"The geopolitical situation definitely affects Brent more," said Bob Yawger, director of the futures division at Mizuho Securities USA Inc. in New York. "You have storage numbers tomorrow. It's a headline market."

WTI for August delivery, which expires today, slid 26 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $104.33 a barrel at 10:53 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract closed at $104.59 yesterday, the highest level since July 1. The more actively-traded September crude contract was down 31 cents at $102.55. Volume was 0.2 percent above the 100-day average.

Brent for September settlement was unchanged at $107.68 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange after earlier gaining as much as 0.7 percent. The volume of all futures was 21 percent below the 100-day average.

The price of gold is reduced by a stronger dollar after a report on U.S. inflation. Consumer prices continued to rise in June, but slightly slowed down compared to the previous month. This was stated in the report submitted to the Department of Labor.

According to the data, the June consumer price index rose a seasonally adjusted 0.3%, which followed an increase of 0.4% in the previous month. Excluding food and energy, the index rose by 0.1% compared to 0.4% in May. Economists predicted a 0.3% growth of the overall index and a 0.2% increase in the benchmark.

In annual terms, the consumer price index rose by 2.1%, which corresponded to an increase in the previous month, and was in line with expectations. Meanwhile, the core CPI rose by 1.9% per annum, the pace slowed slightly compared to May (when the index rose by 2%). Economists had expected an increase of 2.0%,

Also add that the index for personal consumption expenditures, which is the preferred measure of inflation for the Federal Reserve, rose by 1.8% per annum, while the core index (excluding food and energy) rose by 1.5%.

The cost of the August gold futures on the COMEX today dropped to $ 1302.20 per ounce.

(raw materials / closing price /% change)

Light Crude 104.65 +0.06%

Gold 1,312.30 -0.12%