December gold futures are expected to open floor trading in New York around $3 an ounce lower Wednesday, 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 15 cents. Spot gold traded down slightly overnight in Europe, weighed by a higher U.S. dollar and market players said the precious metal could trade still lower if the dollar rally continues. At 7:53 a.m. EDT, spot gold was trading down $7.90 to $1,031.90. In other markets that have the potential to impact metals in the short term, the euro is down to $1.4767 from $1.4802 late Tuesday afternoon. In screen trading ahead of the pit open, the December S&P 500 futures are down 6.10 points to 1,054.30. December crude oil is down 74 cents to $78.81 a barrel in overnight activity. U.S. data on the calendar for Wednesday include: - September durable-goods orders at 8:30 a.m. EDT (1230 GMT), forecast to rise 1.5%; - September new-home sales at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT), expected to be up 2.6% to an annual rate of 440,000; and - weekly energy-inventory data at 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT), with oil stocks forecast to be up 1.4 million barrels. In New York Tuesday, gold futures came under pressure from a higher U.S. dollar and price-chart considerations, extending losses from the previous session. December gold fell $7.40 to $1,035.40 an ounce, while December silver lost 55.5 cents to $16.54. Comex gold warehouse stocks were up 9,743 ounces at 9,427,484 ounces Tuesday, while silver stocks were down 554,398 ounces at 115,548,337 ounces.

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