U.S. Trade Deficit Has Slight Decline

America’s trade deficit, helped by the first drop in imports in 15 months, declined slightly to $30.4 billion in April even though the deficit with Japan surged to an all-time record.

The Commerce Department said the deficit edged down a small 0.4 percent from a record-high deficit of $30.6 billion set in March, the third straight month in which the trade imbalance had set a record.

So far this year, the deficit is running at an annual rate of $350 billion, far above last year’s all-time high of $265 billion.

On Wall Street, the Nasdaq composite index closed above 4,000 mark Tuesday, the first time it has breached that level in more than two months, as investors bought shares of the companies that are expected to post the strongest earnings growth as the economy slows down. Blue-chip indicators fell.