More traffic gains at L.A. ports

April was a strong month at the Port of Long Beach and a decent one at the Port of Los Angeles - the latest indications of an economy that's moving in the right direction. Long Beach reported a 12 percent increase in inbound traffic compared with a year earlier, and a 10.4 percent increase in outbound traffic. Los Angeles was up 3.3 percent for inbound and 5.7 percent for outbound. Hard to say how much of an impact Japan's earthquake and tsunami had on trade activity in April - these percentage changes tend to bounce around a lot. Japan is topped only by China in the amount of container traffic coming into the Los Angeles Customs District.