China’s expansion slowed to the weakest pace in six quarters, testing leaders’ commitment to keep reining in a credit boom and pollution as risks mount of missing a 7.5 percent annual growth target. Gross domestic product rose 7.4 percent in the January -to-March period from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said today in Beijing, compared with the 7.3 percent median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of analysts. Industrial production increased 8.8 percent in March, less than projected, while first-quarter fixed-asset investment trailed estimates. An extended slowdown would put pressure on Premier ... (full story)