The news at a glance

Tech: Google rankles U.S. regulators

Federal regulators have censured Google for blocking an inquiry into unauthorized data collection, said David Streitfeld in The New York Times. The Federal Communications Commission said last week that the company had “deliberately impeded and delayed” an investigation into how Google cars used to map streets also swept up unencrypted personal data like emails and Web chats from home wireless networks. When the data collection was first uncovered, in 2010, Google initially said it had been a mistake. But the FCC said Google has since repeatedly failed to answer requests for information or to identify those responsible, and it fined the company $25,000 for obstructing the probe.

Regulators aren’t the only ones annoyed by the search giant, said Brian Womack in Bloomberg.com. Google announced last week that it would issue a new class of stock to shareholders, effectively creating a two-for-one split. But the new shares won’t come with any voting power. That’s raising concern among corporate-governance watchdogs, who say the move is only designed to cement the control of founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin and board chairman Eric Schmidt, who together hold about two thirds of the company’s voting power. Shareholder rights are already “pretty limited in Google,” said governance watchdog Charles Elson. “This basically perpetuates that reality.”

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Banking: Citi investors reject CEO pay plan

Citigroup received a “scathing rebuke” from its investors this week, said Suzanne Kapner in The Wall Street Journal. Shareholders rejected the increase in CEO Vikram Pandit’s pay from the $1 salary he collected in 2010 to $14.9 million for 2011, arguing that the bank’s lackluster growth hadn’t justified such a large sum. Pandit and the other Citigroup executives whose pay packages were rejected by the nonbinding vote won’t have to give back money they’ve already received. But it’s a striking setback for Citi, the first major bank to suffer a no vote on pay.

Energy: Obama moves against oil speculators

President Obama called for a renewed crackdown on oil market speculators this week, arguing that an “irresponsible few” are rigging energy markets and unfairly raising prices for consumers, said Jennifer Epstein in Politico.com. The president laid out a $52 million program to allow the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to deploy more investigators to check for energy market manipulation. Penalties would increase from $1 million to $10 million, and traders would be required to put up more of their own money for market transactions. Republicans called the proposal a political stunt.

Economy: Strong retail sales signal growth

Americans “are spending like the good times are back,” said Don Lee in the Los Angeles Times. Retail sales in March “far exceeded” expectations, growing at a healthy 0.8 percent, the Commerce Department reported this week. Considering rising energy prices, the figure is all the more impressive, and comes on the heels of February’s 1 percent sales gain. Consumers snapped up everything from cars and clothes to electronics and home furnishings, spurred by unseasonably warm weather and an improving job market.

Housing: A mixed message

Construction on new homes unexpectedly fell in March, said Jason Lange in Reuters.com, but permits for future building rose to their highest level in 3.5 years. Housing starts slipped 5.8 percent last month, a dip analysts attributed to warm weather allowing new construction to start earlier in the year. But the surge in permits suggests that the housing market might be improving. “The rise in permits kind of offsets the disappointing data,” said Omer Esiner, a Washington, D.C.–based market analyst with Commonwealth Foreign Exchange.