The US Commerce Department said that the US economy grew at a modest 2.8% in the final three months of last year. While that is the fastest growth in 2011, economists had expected growth of 3%. A cut in government spending was offset partly by a rise in inventories, which are expected to slow back down in the early months of 2012, hurting growth. After that, “growth will pick up again by late spring,” said Harm Bandholz, chief U.S. economist at UniCredi...