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Spot gold was up 0.5% at $2,420.00 per ounce, as of 1147 GMT, and has gained more than 4% this month. Bullion, traditionally known for its stability as a favoured hedge against geopolitical and economic risks, thrives in a low-interest rate environment.

(Reuters) -Futures tied to the Nasdaq index rose on Wednesday after a bullish forecast from Advanced Micro Devices drove chip stocks higher even as Microsoft faltered, while investors geared up for the Federal Reserve's rate decision. Nvidia rose 6.5%, Intel 2.3% and Broadcom 6.4%. At 7:15 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 31 points, or 0.08%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 52 points, or 0.95%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 295.5 points, or 1.56%.

Frustrated with growing economic hardships, Nigerians are planning nationwide protests this week against the country’s worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation. The government of Nigerian President Bola Tinubu says it is determined to prevent such a scenario in a country that has long been a top African oil producer but whose citizens are among the world’s poorest. Nigeria's population of over 210 million people — the continent's largest — is also among the hungriest in the world and its government has struggled to create jobs.

The Federal Reserve is expected to leave interest rates unchanged at the end of a two-day policy meeting on Wednesday, but also indicate that a reduction in borrowing costs could come as soon as September. Contracts tied to the U.S. central bank's policy rate show investors are convinced a rate cut will happen at the Sept. 17-18 meeting, with the only disagreement over whether the Fed will begin easing policy with a quarter-percentage-point reduction, as most expect, or a more aggressive half-percentage-point cut, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool. The Fed has kept its policy rate in the 5.25%-5.50% range for the past year.

Global stocks advanced Wednesday and oil prices jumped more than $2 a barrel after Hamas’s top political leader Ismail Haniyeh died in an air strike. Haniyeh died in a predawn airstrike in the Iranian capital early Wednesday, Iran and the militant group said, blaming Israel for a shock assassination that could escalate conflict in the region, potentially affecting oil supplies. There was no immediate comment from Israel, which has pledged to kill Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders over the group’s Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel in which the Palestinian militant group killed 1,200 people and took some 250 others hostage.

(Bloomberg) -- Just as the Federal Reserve seems ready to clear the way for Latin American central banks to keep cutting interest rates, growing political problems at home are set to disrupt — if not reverse — those easing campaigns.Presidents across the region are lashing out against policymakers for high borrowing costs that are hindering the vigorous economic growth they promised, and in some cases are directly fanning inflation. As central bankers from Brazil, Colombia and Chile all convene