Top business stories: Massachusetts economy outpaces nation, home sales grow, and more
SPRINGFIELD – It was a busy week for business news in Massachusetts last week, lead by a fairly positive report from MassBenchmarks, a study of the state economy put out through the UMass Donahue Institute. Here is a list of the top five business stories.

Big solar vs. small solar (2 letters)
Re: Battle of solar pits rooftop against utility-scale systems, July 26 business news story. The public utilities, as Mark Jaffe writes, are aware that although solar panel costs have plummeted, especially if used en masse (as by the utilities

Financial Times, Nikkei deal creates business news giant
Copies of the “Financial Times” newspaper in London. (Photo: AFP/Getty Images file) Japanese business media firm Nikkei Inc.’s pursuit of a marquee media property in the West, culminating in its acquisition Thursday of the Financial Times, illustrates

Reuters Business News Schedule at 1230 GMT/0830 AM ET
Oil producer Chevron Corp reports 90 percent drop in second-quarter profit hit by falling oil prices. (CHEVRON-RESULTS/ (UPDATE 1), moving shortly, 200 words) SHANGHAI – China’s securities watchdog is investigating the impact of automated trading on share

Stock futures slightly lower; GM OnStar prone to hacking; Honda profit jumps 20 percent: A.M. Business News Links
Stock futures are not making any major moves ahead of the open. Dow Jones futures are behind 29 points, Nasdaq futures are down 8 points and S&P 500 futures are declining 4 points. (CNN Money) China’s stock market rebounded while other Asian stocks also