The bottom line

■ The U.S. stock market in July delivered its best monthly performance since November 2020. The S&P 500 rose 9.1 percent in the month, while the techheavy Nasdaq recorded a 12.3 percent gain, its best showing since April 2020. In the first six months of the year, the S&P fell 21 percent and the Nasdaq 29.

Financial Times

■ Nearly $3.6 billion has been spent on political and issue ads so far this year, putting the 2022 elections on pace to obliterate 2018’s record as the largest midterm election year by ad spending.

Axios

■ The average cost for a family of four to attend a Major League Baseball game (including 4 tickets, 4 hot dogs, 2 beers, 2 sodas, and parking) is $204.76. Adjusting for inflation, that’s roughly double what the same family would have paid in 1960.

The Hustle

■ Credit-card balances increased $46 billion in the second quarter, a 5.5 percent increase from the first quarter. The 13 percent year-overyear increase from 2021 to 2022 was the biggest such jump in more than 20 years. The Washington Post

■ So far this year, retailers in the U.S. have announced 4,432 store openings and 1,954 closings, a net gain of 2,478 stores—up from a gain of just 68 last year. CNBC.com

■ A Texas jury ordered Charter Communications to pay $7 billion in punitive damages to the family of an 83-year-old woman murdered by a cable technician. Charter was accused of using a forged document to try to force the lawsuit into arbitration and limit damages to the amount of the final cable bill. ArsTechnica