The main indexes turned up abruptly at noon and drove higher, taking back every stitch of lost ground and closing with gains. The NYSE and Nasdaq both ended up 0.8%. The S&P 500 was up 0.6% and the Dow 0.5%. The small-cap S&P 600 jumped 1.6%, based on preliminary figures. Volume rose across the board, the first time the major indexes rose on higher volume since Wednesday. Oil prices also turned sharply near midday, settling down 14 cents at $90.49 a barrel, after rising as high...

Commodities settled broadly lower Monday on the last day of 2007, but markets from energy to metals to agriculture saw their largest annual gains in at least a decade.

Crude oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange, or Nymex, settled down 2 cents at $95.98 a barrel. For the year it was up 57%, the biggest gain for a front-month contract since 1999, when prices more than doubled from a $10-a-barrel low.

Gold futures for February on Nymex’s Comex metals division closed down $4.70 at $838 an ounce. For the year, gold was up 24%.

The spot price of gold bullion rose about 30% on the year, its biggest annual gain since 1979, and was less than $20 from hitting record highs.

U.S. copper for March settled down 3.10 cents at $3.04 a pound on the Comex. For the year, it was up about 8%.

In agricultural products on the Chicago Board of Trade, soybeans for January were down 8 3/4 cents at $11.99 a bushel. On the year, the market showed a gain of more than 60%.

Investors in commodity indexes in 2007 saw some of their biggest gains in 30 years, as five indexes in the energy, metals and agricultural markets ended the year with profits of almost 30% on average.

Five leading commodity indexes namely the DJ-AIG, under Dow Jones and American International Group; the S&P GSCI, owned by Standard & Poor’s and previously Goldman Sachs; the RJ-CRB, named after Reuters and Jefferies; the RICI, under the Rogers International Commodity Indexes family; and the DBLCI, operated by Deutsche Bank averaged total returns of 28.72% between Dec. 29, 2006, and Dec. 28, 2007.

Of the five, the RJ-CRB rose 8.07% in September alone, marking the largest gain since July 1975 for the basket of commodities it represents.

Analysts said early indications for 2008 are that growth in China and other emerging markets will keep demand for raw materials bubbling, while trouble in nuclear-capable states like Pakistan could send oil and gold to new record highs.

Comex gold hit 28-year highs above $850 an ounce in New York in November, while Nymex crude soared to a record of nearly $100 a barrel. Even the prospect of a U.S. recession next year has a possible bright side. A Federal Reserve interest rate cut to spark the economy would further weaken the U.S. dollar, making commodities priced in dollars more attractive in foreign-exchange terms.

(12-31) 21:15 PST Portland, Maine (AP) — Maureen Lafferty is anti-fur. Anti-fur in her tub. Anti-fur on her towels. And anti-fur in the drain. That’s why she and the one big ball of fur she does love, Jackson, a yellow Labrador retriever, are patrons of the Portland Dog Wash. “This is why I don’t do this at home,” Lafferty said, pointing to big clumps of fur at the bottom of the stainless steel basin. In a country whose residents spare...