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Mid-day Update

PODCAST: U.S. June personal income up

Daryl Paranada Aug 2, 2011

Here are today’s top headlines from the Marketplace Morning Report and from around the web.

Personal income nudged higher last month while Americans spent less money on things because of lower gas prices, according to a Commerce Department report out today.

Even as the Senate prepares to take up the debt-ceiling compromise, fears persist that Uncle Sam could lose that all-important triple-A credit rating. We’re yet to hear from Standard & Poor’s, which has been warning of a 50-50 chance of a downgrade, without some kind of meaningful deficit reduction.

Investors are fleeing Italian stocks and bonds today — worried about debt problems in that country.

British bank Barclays said today it’ll cut a total of 3,000 jobs by the end of this year.

There may be a bright side, of sorts: Oil prices are down on speculation of lower demand.

SiriusXM said its profit rose slightly over a year ago with added subscriptions. The satellite radio company features channels with Martha Stewart and Howard Stern.

Who can forget their daily TV visit to Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood? Well starting next year, there will be a sequel. In the fall of 2012, the network PBS Kids will debut an animated series called “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood.” Featuring the all-grown up characters from the Land of Make Believe. And even though the show will be produced by the Fred Rogers Company. It’ll still have quite the sneakers to fill.

Parents, do you know where your children are? That old public service announcement is being given a new twist by General Motors. The carmaker plans to offer a new option that will let owners of vehicles with its OnStar system log on to a site and track the travels of their teenage drivers. Now, now — don’t get the wrong idea. The head of OnStar says this isn’t so much a way for parents to spy on their kids. Think of it as staying connected to family members when they’re on the road.

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