for analysis, we spoke with steven wieting, a u.s. economist at citi. >> in the fourth quarter 2011, we think that's slightly exaggerates trend improvements in the u.s. economy, in particular the composition of growth is even less favorable than expected in the fourth quarter. inventories contributed to that 1.9% points to that growth rate. we don't think they're at a troubles level at all, but even if inventories just don't go up as much in the current quarter, that will be a drag on growth. >> that was steven wieting at citi. >>> the devastating earthquake last march and the strong yen took their toll on japan's auto production last year. eight japanese car makers say they produced nearly 8 million vehicles in 2011. that's down 13% from the previous year. all the companies reported declines in their production. honda by about 28%. toyota 16%. fuji heavy industries and suzuki each more than 10%. their worldwide output fell by 6% to a little more than 21 million units. the march disaster and the floods in thailand are also blamed for