If you're looking for more news on the market turmoil . . .

... Don't look here. Not today anyway.

Instead, today I am focusing on economic data that came out of China yesterday.

Bloomberg has a report on China's latest trade data.

China's trade surplus surged 67 percent in July to the second-highest on record, bolstering U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's case for a faster appreciation of the yuan...

The surplus narrowed from June's record $26.9 billion when businesses rushed to beat cuts to export incentives. The gap was $14.4 billion with the U.S. and $12.2 billion with Europe.

Exports jumped 34.2 percent in July, the fastest pace in five months, to a record $107.7 billion. Imports gained 26.9 percent, the biggest increase in six months. Oil imports climbed 39 percent to a record.

For the first seven months, the trade surplus grew 81 percent to $136.8 billion. China's M2 money supply, the broadest measure, grew 18.5 percent in July, the fastest pace in more than a year, the central bank said today.

The rapid growth in money supply could be fuelling inflation.

Inflation probably accelerated in July to 5.6 percent, the fastest pace in 10 years, according to a report today in the official China Securities Journal that cited unidentified people. The figure is due Aug. 13.

Economists surveyed by Bloomberg have a lower consensus estimate on China's inflation rate for July.

The median estimate of 17 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News is for a 4.6 percent increase in consumer prices from a year earlier, after a gain of 4.4 percent in June. The statistics bureau will release the figure at 10 a.m. on Aug. 13.

But consumer price inflation is largely attributable to higher food prices. Inflationary pressure elsewhere is less apparent, as shown by producer price data.

China's producer-prices had their smallest increase in 14 months as metal cost increases slowed.

Factory-gate prices rose 2.4 percent in July from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said today, after gaining 2.5 percent in June. That lagged behind the 2.6 percent median estimate of 15 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. It was the third straight monthly decline.