ARI SHAPIRO, Host:
NPR's business news starts with a spike in economic growth.
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SHAPIRO: The economy grew last quarter at its fastest pace in six years. Today the government said in the final months of 2009, gross domestic product grew at an annual pace of 5.7 percent. GDP is the broadest measure of the economy. Much of this increase was due to business replenishing its inventories. Economists see consumer spending, another important component of GDP, as a better indicator of sustainable recovery, and in this latest report, consumer spending grew at a rate of two percent.
Also in the news today - Honda. As Toyota struggles with a giant worldwide recall of its top vehicle, another big Japanese carmaker, Honda, has announced a global recall. Honda's recall is much smaller than Toyota's. It's voluntary, and in the U.S. it affects about 140,000 Fit hatchbacks. The problem involves a defective master switch.