DIGEST
Consumer borrowing surged in July, mainly reflecting heavy credit- card use, which posted its sharpest increase in two years. Consumers' credit outstanding, excluding mortgage debt, advanced at a 7.9 percent annual rate in July to a seasonally adjusted $1.354 trillion, the Federal Reserve said. All told, consumers borrowed $8.8 billion more in July than during the month before, greater than the $6.3 billion gain many analysts' had expected.</br></br>Lorcin Engineering, a California-based manufacturer of inexpensive handguns, shut its doors last month, according to people in the gun industry. Lorcin was one of the leading producers of "Saturday night specials," and its guns were among those most frequently traced to crimes. Lorcin's operations were highly profitable, but the company's two business partners recently had a falling-out, industry officials said. Lorcin officials could not be reached or did not respond to requests for comment.</br></br>American Airlines had the most passenger complaints of any major U.S. airline in July, while America West Airlines ranked last in on- time performance, the government said. American placed first for the second month in a row in complaints, with more than five filed for every 100,000 passengers in July, the Department of Transportation said. About 60 percent of America West's flights were on time, ranking it last among the 10 largest carriers. Southwest Airlines performed best in both areas for the second month in a</br></br>The American Medical Association wants a federal judge to impose an additional condition on Aetna's $1 billion acquisition of Prudential HealthCare to ensure competition in Dallas and Houston. The AMA said it wants the court for five years to keep Aetna from requiring doctors in the two cities who want to join its network to accept customers from all health plans offered by the company.</br></br>Wholesaler inventories rose in July by 0.9 percent, their fastest pace in 10 months, led by increases in stockpiles of lumber, electrical equipment and furniture, the Commerce Department reported. Wholesaler sales fell 0.2 percent, their first decline since January.