December gold futures are expected to open floor trading in New York around $1 an ounce lower Monday, based on electronic activity ahead of the pit session at the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. December silver is expected to be down 5 cents. Spot gold traded near steady in Europe overnight, drawing support from continued U.S. dollar weakness against the euro but consolidating until either a new currency or data trigger, London-based traders said. At 7:52 a.m. EDT, spot gold was trading up 5 cents to $1,055. In other markets that have the potential to impact metals in the short term, the euro is up to $1.5034 from $1.4998 late Friday afternoon. In screen trading ahead of the pit open, the December S&P 500 futures are up 1.40 points to 1,078.30. December crude oil is down slightly by 14 cents to $80.36 a barrel in overnight activity. U.S. economic data due out Monday include the Chicago Fed's National Activity Index at 8:30 a.m. EDT (1230 GMT), the Dallas Fed's manufacturing outlook survey at 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT) and the Chicago Fed's Midwest manufacturing index at noon EDT (1600 GMT). Other major reports this week include consumer confidence on Tuesday, durable-goods orders and new-home sales on Wednesday, and jobless claims and gross domestic product on Thursday. Reports Friday will include the Employment Cost Index, personal income and spending, Chicago Purchasing Managers Index and University of Michigan consumer-sentiment index. In New York Friday, gold futures continued their week-long consolidation as a rally attempt sputtered out and the metal finished modestly lower when the dollar rose but stocks and crude oil fell. December gold fell $2.20 to $1,056.40 an ounce. December silver, however, managed a 17.8-cent gain to $17.723, although it pared its loss as gold pulled back. Comex gold warehouse stocks were steady at 9,406,694 ounces Friday, while silver stocks were up 838,711 ounces at 115,524,148 ounces.

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