June 2010 Current Events: Business News

Updated August 5, 2020 | Infoplease Staff

U.S. News | World News | Disasters & Science News

Here are the key events in business and science news for the month of June 2010.

• Economy Adds 431,000 Jobs in May, Mostly Government Work (June 4): The U.S. economy added 431,000 jobs in May and the jobless rate fell from 9.9% in April to 9.7% in May. However, most of the jobs included in that number are temporary government jobs created for the purpose of the 2010 census, and will end in a few months. The private sector created 41,000 positions, much lower than the 180,000 economists anticipated would be added.
• Countrywide Financial Settles $108 Million Charges with FTC (June 7): Countrywide Home Loans, now a part of Bank of America, agrees to settle with the Federal Trade Commission for $108 million on charges that the mortgage company gouged customers trying to save their home loans from default and their houses from foreclosure. Bank of America neither admitted to or denied the charges in the settlement. The money garned in the settlement will be used to repay customers overcharged by Countrywide.
• U.S. Retail Sales Fall in May (June 11): Retail sales fell 1.2% in May after growing 0.6% in April. This is the first decline in retail sales since the fall of 2009. Experts atrribute much of the decline to fewer purchases of building materials.
• China Ends Its Currency Ties to the U.S. Dollar (June 24): In a surprising move, the Chinese government announces it will untie the exchange rate of its currency, the yuan, to the U.S. dollar. U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner cautiously supports the move, in hopes that it will increase consumption. The Chinese yuan has been pegged to the dollar since China incurred a financial crisis in July 2008.