The FTSE 100 and European stocks ticked upwards on Tuesday, as tensions flare again in the Middle East and traders look to central bank meetings later in the week.

On Tuesday morning, the Hamas-run health ministry said that 330 people were killed overnight in air strikes by Israeli forces. The strikes effectively end a ceasefire which came into effect on 19 January. It came after talks to extend the ceasefire failed to reach an agreement.

Commodity-related stocks, oil prices and gold are rallying in response.

The FTSE 100 (^FTSE) rose 0.4% after the opening bell in London. Among top gainers were miners Anglo American (AAL.L), Antofagasta (ANTO.L) and Glencore (GLEN.L), as well as oil major BP (BP.L). Germany's DAX (^GDAXI) rose 0.8% ahead of the country's ZEW economic data release. The CAC 40 (^FCHI) in Paris ticked up 0.4%, while the pan-European STOXX 600 (^STOXX) rose 0.5%. US stock futures fell slightly, as traders look to the two-day Federal Reserve rate-setting meeting, which commences today. The Bank of England's monetary policy committee also meets this week, with announcements on the rate path due on Thursday.

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Lucy Harley-McKeown

China's growth push

China announced a plan to "boost consumption" over the weekend. Neil Wilson, analyst at TipRanks, breaks it down: Today at 8:21 AM UTC

Lucy Harley-McKeown

Nvidia stock futures push higher in premarket

Nvidia stock futures are currently up around 0.7% ahead of the GTC. Today at 8:20 AM UTC

Lucy Harley-McKeown

What to watch at Nvidia's GTC conference

Our US team writes:

Nvidia (NVDA) kicks off its annual GTC conference on March 18 with a keynote by CEO Jensen Huang from the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif. The event, which runs through March 21, will feature workshops and training for developers and engineers, panels and discussions related to AI and robotics, and exhibits from companies showing off how they're using Nvidia's products in the real world.

Huang is expected to debut the company's latest flagship AI chip: the Blackwell Ultra. A souped-up version of Nvidia's existing Blackwell chip, Blackwell Ultra should get a performance boost over last year's chip to further speed up training and running AI models.

We should also learn more about Nvidia's next-generation GPU platform, dubbed Rubin, and the successor to its Grace line of CPUs, Vera. The combined superchip will be called Vera Rubin, named for the American astronomer, and will take the place of the current Grace Blackwell superchip at the top of Nvidia's hierarchy of AI processors.

During Nvidia's fourth quarter earnings call, Huang teased that he'd also discuss the follow-up to Rubin. Nvidia, like most chip companies, is known for providing a broad look at its roadmap to help customers and developers prepare for their upcoming products.

Read more on Yahoo Finance Today at 8:17 AM UTC

Lucy Harley-McKeown

Gold heads above $3,000

Gold (GC=F) continues to hover around the $3,000 all-time high. Haven demand continues to be pushed worldwide as market volatility rattles investors. It hit its stride in early trade, eheading 0.7% higher.

Bloomberg reported:

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Lucy Harley-McKeown

Here's the US stock futures chart

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Lucy Harley-McKeown

US stock futures dip as Fed kicks off two-day policy meeting

From our US team:

US stock future slide after Wall Street digested a second day of gains and braced for the Federal Reserve's next policy meeting.

Futures attached to the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F) fell 0.2%, the benchmark S&P 500 (ES=F) slid 0.3%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (NQ=F) slumped 0.5%.

On Monday, stocks continued to recover from last week's sell-off, which saw the S&P 500 enter correction territory amid concerns about the US economy's ability to sustain President Donald Trump's trade war.

Wall Street's attention is now turning to the Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting, which kicks off on Tuesday. The central bank will announce its next monetary policy decision Wednesday.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has said that the central bank will exercise caution when it comes to rate cuts and seek out more economic data. The Fed is largely expected to hold rates steady this week. Today at 8:11 AM UTC

Lucy Harley-McKeown

Food morning!

Hello from London. Lucy Harley-McKeown here, ready to bring you the latest business news and updates on what's moving markets.

This morning there'll be UK consumer price updates, as well as new information about what's changed in the way the ONS calculates price rises for goods.

Today will also bring the German ZEW economic survey and data on US housing.

Let's get to it.

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