China CPI Signals Inflation! Inflation!

Only Bloomberg and the main stream analysts should be surprised by an "unexpected" increase in inflation data concerning China's CPI.  Did they not read the news today?  China's goal is to increase minimum wage 13% annually!  Did we not think a gallon of milk was going to cost a few cents more for the grocery clerk, now making $15.75/hr, to carry it out to your car?

China CPI Accelerating Limits Room for Easing

By Bloomberg News - Feb 8, 2012 10:42 PM ET 

China’s inflation unexpectedly accelerated in January on the boost to spending from a weeklong holiday, limiting the room for monetary easing as Europe’s debt crisis damps exports and the property market cools.

Consumer prices rose 4.5 percent from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said on its website today. That was more than all 33 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey of economists and a median of 4 percent.

Inflation quickening for the first time in six months adds pressure on officials to refrain from any immediate additional cut in banks’ reserve requirements. The government may wait to see data free from holiday distortions as UBS AG predicts price gains may cool to below 4 percent this month and Bank of America Corp. estimates about 3.3 percent. 

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