A gauge of stocks worldwide posted an eighth straight decline on Dec. 23 amid the Federal Reserve’s ninth interest rate hike since 2015 the U.S. president called them the “only problem our economy has.”
Investors, also facing the likelihood of a prolonged U.S. government shutdown after Congress failed to reach an impasse on budget legislation, fled to the relative safety of bonds and gold during the first day of a week of trading shortened by the Christmas holiday.
