Apple will build a $1 billion campus in Austin, Texas, break ground on smaller locations in Seattle, San Diego and Culver City, California, and over the next three years will expand in Pittsburgh, New York and Colorado, and more in Thursday’s Markets In Brief.
The tech giant said Thursday that the new campus in Austin, less than a mile from existing Apple facilities, will open with 5,000 positions in engineering, research and development, operations, finance, sales and customer support. The site, according to Apple, will have the capacity to accommodate 15,000 employees.
The three other new locations will have more than 1,000 employees each.
Early this year, Apple said that it would make more than $30 billion in capital expenditures in the U.S. over the next five years. That, the company said in January, would create more than 20,000 new jobs at existing and new campuses that Apple planned to build.
There are already 6,000 Apple employees in Austin, its largest operation outside of company headquarters in Cupertino, California, where 37,000 people are employed.
“Apple has been a vital part of the Austin community for a quarter century, and we are thrilled that they are deepening their investment in our people and the city we love,” said Austin Mayor Steve Adler in a prepared statement Thursday.
Apple said nearly a year ago that it would begin canvassing the U.S. for another campus.
Cities offered incentives to lure the company, but CEO Tim Cook avoided a high-profile competition that pitted them against one another as Amazon did over the last year and a half.
Amazon announced in November after a 14-month search it had selected Long Island City, Queens, and Arlington, Virginia, as the joint winners. Each site will employ around 25,000 people.
Cities are eager to bring in more tech employers because companies like Apple and Amazon ladle out six-figure salaries to engineers and other skilled workers.
The infusion of thousands of new and highly paid residents can ripple through an economy, with those employees filling restaurants, theaters, buying property and paying taxes.
Annual pay will vary at the new locations, but Apple workers in Cupertino have an average annual salary of about $125,000, according to a report the company submitted to the city.
MARKETS IN BRIEF
Renault: No Wrongdoing by Ghosn in Compensation
Renault says an internal investigation has found no wrongdoing in the awarding of compensation to CEO Carlos Ghosn, who has been indicted in Japan on charges of falsifying financial reports.
Following a board meeting, the French carmaker said in a statement Thursday that the preliminary results of a review of Ghosn’s compensation for the years 2015-18 showed it was in compliance with French law.
Ghosn, Nissan’s former chairman, was arrested last month in Japan. He and Nissan were charged Monday with violating financial laws by underreporting Ghosn’s pay by about 5 billion yen ($44 million) in 2011-2015.
While he was fired at Nissan, Ghosn kept his position at Renault, though deputies are filling in during his absence. Renault’s board said it does not have “information concerning Carlos Ghosn’s defense.”
US Mortgage Rates Fall to 3-Month Low; 30-Year at 4.63%
U.S. long-term mortgage rates fell this week to their lowest level in three months, an inducement to prospective homebuyers in a haltingly recovering market.
Continued steep declines in the stock market pushed home borrowing rates lower, although they remain much higher than a year ago. Mortgage giant Freddie Mac says the average rate on the benchmark 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage dropped to 4.63 percent from to 4.75 percent last week. The key rate stood at 3.93 percent a year ago.
The rate on 15-year fixed-rate loans fell to 4.07 percent from 4.21 percent the previous week.
No. 2 Gas-Producing State Moves to Curb Air Pollution
Pennsylvania is aiming to curb air pollution and greenhouse emissions from its vast natural gas exploration fields, even as the Trump administration moves to relax federal requirements.
Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration formally proposed new regulations Thursday that environmental groups welcome but also say should go farther in combating methane leaks.
Methane is the primary component of natural gas and is one of the most potent heat-trapping pollutants. Pennsylvania is the nation’s second-largest natural gas producer after Texas.
The proposal would impose stronger limits on smog-forming pollutants and require companies to more aggressively search for methane leaks at existing oil and gas installations. A gas-industry trade group, the Marcellus Shale Coalition, says it’s concerned about the cost for companies to comply.
Earlier this year, Pennsylvania began enforcing tougher standards on equipment at new or updated installations.
Delta Forecasts 2019 Profit Below Expectations
Delta Air Lines says its profit will rise next year though possibly not as much as was thought, and that is sending shares are down in early trading.
Meeting with investors in New York, the airline said Thursday that it will earn adjusted profit of $6 to $7 per share next year. The midpoint, $6.50, is below the $6.70 consensus of industry analysts, according to a survey by FactSet.
Shares of the Atlanta carrier fell 2.6 percent to $54.80 at the opening bell.
Delta is spending $2 billion more on fuel this year than last, but oil prices began to drop again in early October. Delta expects its fuel bill to drop by $300 million next year compared with 2018.
CEO Ed Bastian says travel demand remains solid.
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