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

THE white-hot infrastructure investment boom is showing no signs of slowing down, with business borrowing growing at its fastest pace for two decades.

It's going to be a tough year for the Sacramento economy, with real estate prices slipping, retail sales slowing and state spending getting squeezed.

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 miners marched to the top of the winners' pile again in 2007, as the appetite for iron and coal around the world showed no sign of slowing.