The bottom line

July gains for the stock indexes; State debt swells by 10.3 percent; Will Murdoch bid for the Rangers?; BP’s U.S. filling stations may rebrand; AT&T and Verizon target Visa and MasterCard

July gains for the stock indexes

July was the best month for stocks in a year, with the three major stock indexes—the Dow Jones industrials, the Nasdaq, and the Standard & Poor’s 500—gaining about 7 percent, following 14 percent declines in May and June.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

State debt swells by 10.3 percent

Cash-strapped states have stepped up their borrowing to cope with their fiscal woes. The amount of debt carried by states swelled 10.3 percent last year, to $460 billion. Connecticut citizens carry the heaviest debt burden, $4,859 per capita, while Nebraska’s debt is equal to only $15 per citizen.

CNNmoney.com

Will Murdoch bid for the Rangers?

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. is considering a bid for Major League Baseball’s Texas Rangers. Fox Sports Southwest, a News Corp. unit, broadcasts Rangers games. By acquiring the Rangers, News Corp. could save so much in broadcast fees that the deal would pay for itself within a few years.

New York Post

BP’s U.S. filling stations may rebrand

Operators of BP’s U.S. filling stations are actively considering a name change. The BP Amoco Marketers Association is leaning toward rebranding with the Amoco logo, which BP obtained when it acquired Amoco in 1998.

Marketwatch.com

AT&T and Verizon target Visa and MasterCard

AT&T and Verizon are taking a shot at Visa and MasterCard by developing a system that would allow consumers to pay for their purchases with a wave of their smart phones. Payments would be processed through Discover Financial Service’s payment system.

Bloomberg.com

Explore More