More Havana flights get an OK
United Airlines and Mesa Airlines, which operates regional United Express flights, have received tentative approval to expand Saturday only flights to daily flights between Houston and Havana, Cuba.
United began flying between Bush Intercontinental Airport and Havana's José Martí International Airport in December 2016. It will fly passengers to Havana aboard a Boeing 737-800 mainline aircraft or Embraer E175 regional aircraft. Mesa will operate the regional jet aircraft as United Express.
Tentative approval for this route was granted by the U.S. Department of Transportation. It's subject to final government approval.
AT&T says 120 jobs will leave Houston
The Texas Workforce Commission reported Monday that Dallas-based telecommunications giant AT&T plans to lay off nearly 120 workers at a Houston “customer loyalty center” late next month.
AT&T described the move not as layoffs, but as a work- place shift and countered that it’s “not eliminating any jobs.”
“There’s a job in San Antonio, and a relocation allowance, for every affected employee, and we hope they will remain with us,” Marty Richter with AT&T Corporate Communications said in an email.
“There also will be other opportunities available in the Houston area, and we will work to find jobs for as many affected employees as possible,” he said.
Pace of U.S. factory growth declines
WASHINGTON — U.S. manufacturers say they expanded at a slower pace in March.
The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing managers, reports that its manufacturing index slipped to 59.3 last month from February's reading of 60.8, which had been the highest since 2004. Any score above 50 signals growth.
Multiple companies surveyed for the index said that the introduction of steel and aluminum tariffs by President Donald Trump were causing concerns about rising prices.
Apple’s chip plans are a blow to Intel
Apple is planning to use its own chips in Mac computers beginning as early as 2020, replacing processors from Intel Corp., according to people familiar with the plans.
The initiative, code named Kalamata, is still in the early developmental stages, but comes as part of a larger strategy to make all of Apple’s devices — including Macs, iPhones, and iPads — work more similarly and seamlessly together, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information.
The shift would be a blow to Intel. Apple provides Intel with about 5 percent of its annual revenue, according to Bloomberg supply chain analysis.
GE selling part of health care unit
General Electric agreed to sell a portion of its health care business for nearly $1.1 billion as CEO John Flannery streamlines operations and seeks to pull the company out of a deepening slump.
Private-equity firm Veritas Capital will buy a trio of information-technology assets in GE Healthcare, the companies said Monday in a statement. The cash deal is expected to close in the third quarter.
The sale furthers Flannery’s efforts to sharpen the focus at GE since taking the helm last year.
The company also plans to exit businesses such as lighting and railroads to simplify its portfolio and reverse one of the deepest downturns in the company’s 126-year history.
Russian billionaire, brother arrested
MOSCOW — The Kremlin rejected suggestions on Monday that the arrest of a billionaire involved in the construction of one of the stadiums to be used in this summer's World Cup was part of a strategy to wrest his business from him.
Ziyavudin Magomedov, who is worth $1.4 billion according to the Russian Forbes magazine, was arrested Saturday along with his brother after the court refused to release him on bail of $44 million, the sum police say he embezzled from government infrastructure contracts.
In other news …
• The Treasury Department auctioned $48 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 1.740 percent, down from 1.760 percent last week. Another $42 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at 1.905 percent, up from 1.895 percent last week.
• The Federal Reserve said the average yield for one-year Treasury bills stood at 2.09 percent, up from 2.06 percent.