Trade deficit shrinks due to drop in imports

WASHINGTON – The U.S. trade deficit shrank in April, but only because a big drop in imports offset the first decline in U.S. exports in five months.

The Commerce Department said Friday that the trade deficit narrowed 4.9 percent in April to $50.1 billion.

U.S. exports, which had hit a record the previous month, fell 0.8 percent to $182.9 billion.

Imports, which also set a record in March, dropped an even faster 1.7 percent to $233 billion.

The trade gap remains wide and could weigh on growth in the April-June quarter. A wider trade gap slows growth because it means the United States is spending more on foreign-made products than it is taking in from sales of U.S.-made goods.

Feds seize four banks; this year’s total at 28

WASHINGTON – Federal regulators have seized 4 banks, one each in Illinois, North Carolina, South Carolina and Oklahoma, bringing to 28 the number of U.S. banks that have failed so far this year.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Friday that it closed Farmers and Traders State Bank in Shabbona, Ill.; Waccamaw Bank in Whiteville, N.C.; Carolina Federal Savings Bank in Charleston, S.C.; and First Capital Bank in Kingfisher, Okla.

Regulators estimate that the four bank failures will cost the insurance fund $80.8 million.

Google wins privacy case in Switzerland

GENEVA – Switzerland’s supreme court has ruled that Google doesn’t need to be perfect when it comes to privacy.

The Internet giant has won a partial repeal of a lower court decision that required the company to guarantee absolute anonymity for people pictured in its popular Street View service.

“It must be accepted that up to a maximum of 1 percent of the images uploaded are insufficiently anonymized,” the Swiss Federal Tribunal said in a statement Friday.

The court said Google still has to make it easy for people to have their images manually blurred, and must ensure total anonymity in sensitive areas such as schools, hospitals, women’s shelters and courts.