News In Brief

The nation's sixth-largest bank, First Union Corp., announced a $2.8 billion restructuring plan that includes plans to sell as many as 90 branches and close the Money Store, a home-equity-loan business. The bank, which is trying to improve finances and boost its lagging stock price, also said it will sell its mortgage-servicing unit to Wells Fargo and put its credit card business on the auction block. The moves could affect about 2,350 jobs, the company said. Charlotte, N.C.-based First Union, with assets of $254 billion and almost 2,000 branches, has stumbled since it bought the Money Store and CoreStates in 1998.

Boeing Co. will eliminate as many as 900 jobs from its Delta rocket and C-17 military transport programs in Huntington Beach, Calif., the aerospace giant announced. Much of the work will be transferred to existing plants in Pueblo, Colo., and Decatur, Ala. The move is part of a consolidation of operations that began in 1998 after Boeing acquired competitor McDonnell Douglas. After the transition, the primary mission of the Huntington Beach facility will be engineering, research, and management of rocket- manufacturing programs, a spokesman said.

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