U.S. job openings highest in 8 monthsWASHINGTON — U.S. employers posted the most open jobs in eight months in March, but total hiring slowed, providing a mixed picture of the labor market.Job openings jumped 2.7 percent to 5.76 million, the most since July, the Labor Department said Tuesday. That may point to better hiring in the coming months. The number of available jobs rose in manufacturing; professional and business services, which includes engineering and management consulting; and government.Yet hiring slowed to 5.3 million from 5.5 million. That suggests employers became more reluctant to fill open positions, possibly because of slower economic growth from October through March.The drop in hiring echoes a pullback that was reported last week, when the government said net hiring slowed in April. Yet the increase in job openings suggests that job gains could pick up again in the coming months.On Friday, the government reported that job gains slowed to 160,000 in April, down from an average of 232,000 in the previous 12 months.

Beer campaign appeals to patriotismST. LOUIS — Red, white and Budweiser?Beginning May 23, as part of its summer advertising campaign, Anheuser-Busch is replacing the name “Budweiser” with “America” on bottles and cans of its flagship brand, and swapping out “King of Beers” with “E pluribus unum” (Out of many, one), the motto of the United States.The new packaging, which will run through the November election, also has other appeals to patriotism, including lyrics from the “Star-Spangled Banner” and Woody Guthrie's “This Land is Your Land.” The letters “US” replace “AB” in the center of the ornate crest that appears on every label.St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch, whose parent is Belgium-based A-B InBev, said Tuesday that the packaging is part of its “America is in Your Hands” campaign.