Did Thursday’s surprise fall in one of China’s purchasing manager indexes give you pause about the pace of Chinese economic growth? Some indices had already said that China’s economy was doing worse than advertised. Lombard Street Research, a London economic research firm that takes a bearish view on China, constructs its own version of the country’s GDP. Lombard’s conclusion: China’s economy grew just 6.1% in the fourth quarter of 2013, year-over-year, down from 7.5% the previous quarter. That compares with the 7.7% fourth-quarter increase reported by China’s statistics bureau, which was down a smidgen from 7.8% in ... (full story)