Business news for Mon, 31 Dec 2007 & with word price. 15 news.

Crude looks set to finish a volatile year with the biggest yearly price gain since 1999.

A rail users' group is planning a ticket boycott over fare increases of more than twice the rate of inflation on many lines from now.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - In a hint of stability, sales of existing homes rose 0.4% in November to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 5.00 million, the National Association of Realtors reported Monday. Sales of existing homes are down 20% in the past year and are down 31% from the peak of 7.21 million two years ago. Inventories of unsold homes on the market declined by 3.6%, representing a 10.3-month supply at the current sales pace. The median sales price fell 3.3% compared with a year ago to $210,200. November sales were in line with the 4.99 million annual pace expected by economists surveyed by MarketWatch.

World-wide semiconductor sales rose 2.3% in November compared with a year ago in the face of steep price cutting, and sales may fall short of previous full-year predictions for growth.

Tracinda will take a 35% stake in Delta Petroleum, under an agreement for the firm to make a $684 million investment in the energy company and acquire shares at a price representing a 23% premium from Friday's closing price.

The price of gold rose above $843 today, as it profited from political unrest in Pakistan and a weak dollar.

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- The Financial Services Authority is probing a jump in the share price of U.K. waste services group Biffa ahead of an announcement in November that it had received a 1.2 billion pound ($2.4 billion) takeover bid, according to a report in the Times (of London) newspaper. The report said the FSA has written to various parties involved in the talks to ask what they knew about any possible bid before buyout groups HgCapital and Montagu Private Equity revealed their offer. The inquiry is a part of a continuing focus at the regulator on insider trading ahead of major announcements, the newspaper added.

Though price growth is slowing, it's one of the few big markets in the nation that hasn't experienced a decline. Yet. It's the kind of house that a year or two ago would have been snapped up in days: a refurbished rambler in a woodsy residential neighborhood minutes from downtown.

The Army Corps of Engineers came to the District in the late 1990s on an expensive mission: launch a massive overhaul of decrepit school buildings, which eventually included spending $80 million to replace ancient heating systems with brand-new boilers to last 25 years or more.

So long, G.I. Joe. See ya later, Lucy. And Harry and Hanna? Adios to you, too.

Fuel-driven inflation spiking to 3.5 percent last month has not helped dampen fears of broad price increases.

The Financial Services Authority is investigating a jump in the share price of Biffa, the waste services group, that occurred before an announcement that two private equity firms had made a £1.2 billion bid for the company.

Vodafone sought last night to play down suggestions that Arun Sarin, its chief executive, is set to reap a £45 million windfall from the turnaround in the mobile phone operator’s fortunes. Reports claimed that Mr Sarin’s potential windfall had been boosted by the 33 per cent jump in the company’s share price over the past year.

Savers were dealt a blow after it emerged that Halifax, Nationwide and Bradford & Bingley are to cut savings rates by more than a quarter-point after the base-rate cut this month.

At the Copenhagen fur auction three weeks ago, Danish was hardly spoken. While the auctions are conducted in English, the dominant languages among the 300 or so fur traders, brokers and manufacturers assembled to bid for mink pelts, sable and chinchilla are Mandarin and Russian.