China: Xi Jinping tackles slow growth as economy ‘hits the brakes’

China’s economy stumbled in the second quarter, official data shows, just as the country’s top leaders gathered for a key meeting to address its sluggish growth.

“China’s economy hit the brakes in the June quarter,” said Heron Lim at Moody’s Analytics, adding that analysts are hoping for solutions from the meeting under way in Beijing, also called the Third Plenum.

The world’s second-largest economy is facing a…