August 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 August 2010.

• U.S. Economy Lost 131,000 Jobs in July; Unemployment Remains at 9.5% (Aug. 6): The U.S. economy lost 131,000 jobs in the month of July, despite the fact that private payrolls grew. This number is greater than experts expected. The unemployment rate remains at 9.5%. More than 8 million jobs have been lost in the recession so far.
• U.S. Federal Reserve Buying Government Debt (Aug. 10): The Federal Reserve announces that due to the slowing of U.S. economic recovery, it will buy pieces of the government's long-term debt. The Fed will buy about $10 billion of government per month, a small fraction of the $700 billion in Treasury interest the Fed currently holds.
• China's Economy Passes Japan's, Becoming World's Second-Largest (Aug. 15): After growing rapidly for many years, China's economy officially becomes the second-largest in the world, passing Japan's and approaching that of the United States. In the second quarter of 2010, China estimated its economy's value at $1.33 trillion; Japan's was estimated at $1.28 trillion. The GDP of the United States in 2009 was $14 trillion. Experts have long forecasted that China's ecomony would surpass Japan's, but the event occurred faster than expected; economists believe China's GDP will be larger than the United States in the year 2030.
• Home Sales at Lowest Level in 10 Years (Aug. 24): Housing sales in July 2010 were at their lowest level in over 10 years—the seasonally adjusted annual sales rate was 3.83 million, 25.5% lower than at the same time in 2009. Experts were expecting a drop in sales—due to the end of the federal tax credit of $8,000 that had been in place for homebuyers for a number of months—but the estimate of 13% was much too low.
• Continental-United Merger Approved by Justice Department (Aug. 27): The Justice Department approves a $3 billion merger between Continental Airlines and United Airlines, which would create the world's largest airline.