Ticker: Wall Street posts another winning week; California may cut 10,000 vacant state jobs; Cyberattack forces health system to divert ambulances

U.S. stocks coasted to the close of another winning week with a quiet, mixed finish. The S&P 500 rose 0.2% Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.3%, and the Nasdaq composite edged down by less than 0.1%.

A lengthening parade of strong profit reports from Gen Digital and other companies helped support the market. Stocks had been on track for bigger gains in the morning but regressed following a discouraging report on U.S. consumer sentiment.

California may cut 10,000 vacant state jobs

California has a budget deficit of $27.6 billion, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Friday — a gap so wide that he’s proposing eliminating 10,000 vacant state jobs and cutting spending across 260 state programs.

The Democratic governor outlined the deficit Friday as part of his proposed $288 billion state budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1. That’s by far the largest budget of any state.

Cyberattack forces health system to divert ambulances

A cyberattack on the Ascension health system operating in 19 states across the U.S. forced some of its 140 hospitals to divert ambulances, caused patients to postpone medical tests and blocked online access to patient records.

An Ascension spokesperson said it detected “unusual activity” Wednesday on its computer network systems. Officials refused to say whether the non-profit Catholic health system, based in St. Louis, was the victim of a ransomware attack or whether it had paid a ransom.