WASHINGTON—Global stock markets rose on Monday and oil prices eased as investors hailed strong U.S. holiday season sales and some grew less fearful about economic damage from the Omicron variant of COVID-19. Still, fears that the pandemic could hurt economic growth pushed gold prices to the highest in more than a week despite pressure from a firmer U.S. dollar. A Mastercard Inc. survey showed a substantial rise in U.S. holiday season retail sales. This fueled investor optimism, boosting Wall Street and lifting a gauge of stocks across the globe by 0.87 percent. European gains offset earlier weakness across Asian markets. Some investors grew confident a global recovery would regain steam next year even though the pandemic has prompted U.S. airlines to cancel or delay thousands of flights due to staff shortages, while several cruise ships had to cancel stops after COVID-19 outbreaks aboard. Spot gold added 0.1 percent to $1,811.92 …