China's economy grew at its slowest pace in 18 months at the start of 2014, but did a touch better than expected and showed some improvement in March, suggesting Beijing will not rush to follow up recent steps to support activity. Authorities have ruled out major stimulus to fight short-term dips in growth, signalling the slowdown was an expected consequence of their reform drive, even as some analysts think the economy will lose further momentum. The economy grew 7.4 percent in the January-March quarter from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday. That was slightly stronger than the ... (full story)