Imported Inflation ?

The NY Times had a very good article on inflationary pressure from Asia this morning.

The article was titled Asian Inflation Begins to Sting US Shoppers. It did a very good job of giving information about how inflationary pressures were driving prices higher in Asia and correctly
pointed out that it was showing up in US import prices.

Of course we know that from the data on import prices shown in this chart.

But it looks to me like they should have taken the reporting one more step. Because if you look at retail prices what you see is no sign that the higher import prices are being passed through to
consumers. Rather, it looks like so far that retail stores are absorbing the increase in retail prices. Consequently, the rise in import prices appears to be showing up in weaker profits rather then higher inflation.

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