Morning Money Memo…

Global financial markets are a slippery slope for oil and the ruble. Despite a huge overnight rate hike by Russia's Central Bank, the value of the ruble continues to fall.

The surprise decision to raise the rate to 17% from 10.5% has been seen as a desperate attempt to prop up the troubled currency, battered by Western sanctions and the plunging price of oil. Higher interest rates usually boost a currency's value, relative to others. But analysts see this announcement as a sign of weakness. After rising shortly after the Russian announcement, the ruble is down more than 10% - falling to 73 to the dollar.

(U. Baumgarten/Getty Images)

The price of oil continued to tumble after OPEC confirmed it will keep production targets unchanged. U.S. crude futures are around $54.20 a barrel. The U.S. Energy Department says gasoline prices continue to drop. The nationwide average for regular gas dropped 13 cents a gallon in the past week to $2.55.

The sprawling $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill recently passed by Congress is a Christmas gift for many businesses and special interests. A Michigan boot-maker, potato farmers and more than 1,200 contractors that supply parts for a next-generation fighter plane are among the many winners. The travel and tourism industry won a six-year renewal of the Corporation for Travel Promotion, or Brand USA, to promote tourism in the United States.

Google has followed through on a promise to shut down Google News in Spain in reaction to a Spanish law requiring news publishers to receive payment for content even if they are willing to give it away. The site, normally full of aggregated news content, vanished and was replaced by a message saying Google was "incredibly sad" to announce the closure plus a lockout of Spanish publishers from its more than 70 other Google News sites around the world. Spain's "Google Tax" law takes effect on Jan. 1 and Google said it wasn't worth it to consider paying the publishers for linking their content because its popular news aggregator makes no money.