Honda Motor Co. stunned investors Wednesday when it revealed at its traditional year-end news conference that it expected to lose around $1.3 billion in the second half of the year, a period that coincided with the collapse of the U.S. auto market. Many analysts believe the next fiscal year, starting on April 1, will be even tougher for Japan's automakers. Merrill Lynch analyst Koichi Sugimoto said in a research note that he expected Toyota to show an operating profit for the current year, but cut his operating profit forecast to zero for the year to March 31, 2010. Compared with most automakers, Toyota has been unusually resilient to the ups and downs of the industry cycle. Its last annual loss was in 1950. 'While Toyota has maintained a steady growth path and has been the most successful automaker globally, the company is not immune to the weakening state of worldwide auto markets,' the Tokyo analyst of Standard & Poor's Ratings Services wrote in a note published this week. They said Toyota 'is highly likely to report operating losses during the second half of the current fiscal year' and will remain under pressure in the next year. Last month, Toyota cut its forecast for the current fiscal year, predicting income would fall to about $5 billion, or a third of last year's record profit. It also established an 'Emergency Profit Improvement Committee' led by CEO Katsuaki Watanabe to try to keep the company in the black. You can reach Christine Tierney at (313) 222-1463 or ctierneydteom.