Global equities traded sideways on Wednesday after enthusiasm about China lifting COVID restrictions was tempered by rising infections and investors’ gloomy outlook for Western economies. MSCI’s broadest index of global stocks was flat as investors stayed on the sidelines at the end of a brutal year for equities. The global gauge is on course to end 2022 19.5% down, in its worse performance since the financial crisis of 2008, having buckled under the pressure of red-hot inflation in Western economies, major central banks hiking interest rates, and China’s stringent zero-COVID policies.
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