WASHINGTON - When Ben Bernanke testifies about the U.S. economy Wednesday, the Federal Reserve chairman's words will be examined for any clues that the Fed might soon taper — or increase — its support for the economy. The Fed is pursuing an aggressive program of bond purchases to try to keep long-term interest rates down and encourage borrowing and spending. The Fed has said it plans to continue its $85 billion-a-month in Treasury and mortgage bond purchases until the job market improves substantially. The timing of any policy shift remains hazy.

Japan's goods trade deficit expanded to a record 879.9 billion yen for April, marking the 10th straight month of red ink, as the yen's slide continued to push up the cost of fossil fuel imports, while conversely helping exports recover, the government said Wednesday. It is the first time Japan's trade balance has remained in deficit for 10 months since 1979, when the country was hit by the second oil shock, a Finance Ministry official briefing reporters said.

By Tetsushi Kajimoto TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's exports rose less than expected in April from a year earlier due to weak demand from Europe and China, highlighting the challenges confronting the world's third-biggest economy as policymakers try to engineer a sustained revival. The 3.8 percent annual increase in exports in April was below the median estimate for a 5.9 percent rise and followed a 1.1 percent increase in the year to March.

Japan's trade deficit expanded a worse-than-expected 70 percent on year to $8.6 billion in April, government data showed Wednesday, as a weaker yen made imports costlier. The monthly trade deficit came to 879.9 billion yen ($8.6 billion), 69.7 percent higher than the year-before deficit of 518.4 billion yen, finance ministry data showed. The deficit was the biggest for the month of April in comparable official data that goes back to 1979 and was also worse than a shortfall of 620 billion yen economists predicted on average in a poll by the Nikkei business daily.