Business news for Mon, 31 Dec 2007 & with words gains+index. 2 news.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- U.S. closed lower on Monday but notched gains for 2007, led by the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the last day of trading down 101 points, or 0.8%, at 13,264.82, the S&P 500 Index fell 10 points, or 0.7%, to 1,468.33, and the Nasdaq Composite lost 22 points, or 0.8%, to end at 2,652.28. For the year, the Nasdaq climbed 9.8%, the blue-chip index rose 6.4%, and the broader index gained 3.5%.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Energy stocks drifted slightly lower at the open Monday, the final session of 2007, amid sharply lower volume. Early action saw shares of Delta Petroleum Corp. jump as much as 24% to $19.30 a share after Kirk Kerkorian's Tracinda Corp. announced it was taking a 35% stake in the company at $19 a share. But the news failed to spur gains elsewhere in the group. The Amex Oil Index was off 0.2% at 1,574 points, the Philadelphia Oil Service Index was down 1% at 303, and the Amex Natural Gas Index was essentially unchanged at 580 points.