Business news for Mon, 31 Dec 2007 & with word service. 4 news.

(AP) -- Illinois Historic Preservation Agency Director Robert Coomer is retiring after more than 28 years of state service. Coomer's tenure included the opening of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield and the restoration of seven-day-per-week operations at most Illinois ...

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.

Less than a year since its launch, Wal-Mart has scrapped its online video download service. The decision to end its downloading operation resulted from Hewlett-Packard discontinuing the technology that powered the service.

1. The housing market suffered its worst slump since the Depression and foreclosures soared as the collapse of the subprime mortgage market rattled banks around the world. Financial service companies were expected to report one of their worst years ever, and the Federal Reserve is proposing tighter lending rules to protect consumers and rein in irresponsible lenders.