DETROIT (AP) — U.S. shares of Japanese automakers are soaring Thursday as investors expect them to benefit from Japan's aggressive actions to stimulate its economy.

Shares of Nissan Motor Co., Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. all rose more than 4 percent after the Bank of Japan said it will increase the amount of cash in circulation.

The yen fell 3.5 percent against the dollar. A weaker yen lowers the cost of producing vehicles in Japan and makes Japanese imports less costly for Americans.

Standard and Poor's analyst Efraim Levy said U.S. consumers could soon see lower prices for Japanese cars.

But the Japanese automakers already have moved a lot of production to North America, which will somewhat blunt the impact of the drop in the yen.