BUSINESS BRIEFS

Stocks rise for 4th straight day on strength of banks, tech

U.S. stocks climbed for the fourth straight day Tuesday as strong earnings continued to pull the market closer to the all-time high it set in late January.

Industrial companies rose Tuesday and banks moved higher as interest rates increased. Gains for Microsoft and Google’s parent company Alphabet helped technology companies.

The S&P 500 index rose 8.05 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,858.45. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 126.73 points, or 0.5 percent, to 25,628.91. The Nasdaq composite gained 23.99 points, or 0.3 percent, to 7,883.66. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks edged up 3.99 points, or 0.2 percent, to 1,688.30.

Available jobs again outnumber people looking for work

U.S. employers posted slightly more openings in June than the previous month, resulting in more available jobs than unemployed people for the third straight month, signaling a solid economy.

The Labor Department said Tuesday that job openings barely increased, rising 3,000 to 6.66 million. That’s more than the 6.56 million people who were searching for work in June. It’s also close to April’s figure of 6.8 million, a record high. Overall hiring slipped to 5.65 million from 5.75 million, and the number of people quitting their jobs declined slightly to 3.4 million from nearly 3.5 million in May.

Businesses are optimistic about the outlook and stepping up hiring in anticipation of solid future growth. The economy expanded at a 4.1 percent annual rate in the April-June quarter, the fastest pace in four years.

Pay attention: Testing discovers limits of driver assist systems

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety issued a warning Tuesday after testing five electronic drive assist systems from Tesla, Mercedes, BMW and Volvo on a track and public roads. The upshot is while they could save your life, the systems can fail under many circumstances.

“We have found situations where the vehicles under semi-automated control may do things that can put you and your passengers at risk, and so you really need to be on top of it to prevent that from happening,” said David Zuby, the institute’s chief research officer.

The paper the institute released was called “Reality Check.”

Bon Appétit tags Portland, Maine, City of the Year for food

One of the most widely read food magazines says there’s no better U.S. city for restaurants than Portland, Maine.

Bon Appétit published an article on its website Tuesday that declared Maine’s largest city the 2018 Restaurant City of the Year. Deputy editor Andrew Knowlton wrote the article, which says the “sheer number of outstanding openings” in the city have made it the top food destination in the country this year.

Knowlton previously declared Portland “America’s Foodiest Small Town” in a 2009 article for the same magazine.

General Electric laying off 200 workers at NY turbine plant

General Electric says it’s laying off 200 hourly workers at its upstate New York plant that produces steam turbines for the company’s power unit.

Boston-based GE announced Tuesday that the layoffs include unionized manufacturing and assembly employees at its facilities in Schenectady. Another 25 unfilled jobs will be eliminated.

GE Power unit spokesman Christopher Shigas says the layoffs come after a 45 percent drop in volume at the plant.