Walmart offering
bill-paying platform
Walmart Inc. is adding a bill-paying platform to its suite of financial services.
Starting in August, customers can use the PayNearMe app to pay their rent, utility and other bills in cash at the customer service or money services desk in participating stores.
A Walmart spokesman said PayNearMe will "expand our bill payment and account-loading network and reinforce Walmart as a one-stop shop" for meeting customers' financial needs.
In a news release Tuesday, PayNearMe said customers first contact the biller to start the process. When the customer selects the PayNearMe payment option, the app generates a scannable barcode on their smartphone.
Customers show the barcode to a Walmart employee, pay with cash and get a receipt. The funds are transferred electronically to the biller.
Fees will vary depending on the biller, according to PayNearMe's website, and will be clearly stated.
Retailers offering the service include Casey's General Stores, Family Dollar, CVS Pharmacy Inc. and 7-Eleven, the website states.
-- Serenah McKay
NOWDiagnostics, UA
team on virus study
Springdale-based NOWDiagnostics Inc. is teaming up with the University of Arkansas to see how prevalent covid-19 antibodies are among the university's students, faculty and staff, according to a news release.
The test will use NOWDiagnostics' rapid antibody test that uses blood from a simple finger stick and gives results in about 15 minutes. Recruitment for the study began in March and the project will track students through three tests over four months.
The study's principal investigator will be Donald G. Catanzaro, a research assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences. A former member of the NOWDiagnostics test development team, chemical engineering associate professor Shannon Servoss and Shengfan Zhang, associate professor of industrial engineering, are co-principal investigators.
In late May, NOWDiagnostics gained emergency authorization from the FDA for its single-drop blood test to detect covid-19 antibodies in certain settings. Studies are underway to make the testing technology available over the counter.
NOWDiagnostics employs about 100 people.
-- John Magsam
State's big firms
buck national dip
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, closed Tuesday at 631.83, up 3.34.
"U.S. stocks fell slightly on Tuesday with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite slid off their recent records, as investors awaited the key Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting," said Chris Harkins, managing director at Raymond James & Associates.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.