China's economy lost significant momentum in April, with industrial output and retail sales both badly missing forecasts, as the compounding pressures of higher energy costs from the Iran war and chronically weak domestic demand took hold. Factory output rose 4.1% from a year earlier, a sharp deceleration from the 5.7% recorded in March and the slowest pace of growth since July 2023. The reading fell well short of analyst expectations centred on 5.9% growth. Retail sales, the primary gauge of household consumption, rose just 0.2% in April, cooling sharply from 1.7% in March and marking the weakest gain since December ... (full story)