NEW YORK - November 15, 2010 - There might not have been a second round of quantitative easing, if Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke shopped at Walmart.

A new pricing survey of products sold at the world’s largest retailer showed a 0.6% price increase in just the last two months, according to MKM Partners. At that rate, prices would be close to 4% higher a year from now, double the Fed’s mandate.

The “inaugural price survey shows a small, but meaningful increase on an 86-item grocery basket,” said Patrick McKeever, MKM Partners analyst, in a note. Most of the items McKeever chose to track were everyday items like food and detergent, and made by national brands.

On November 3, the Fed announced its much-anticipated purchase of $600 billion in Treasury securities; an effort to keep market rates low since the central bank’s benchmark rate is already at zero. The Federal Open Market Committee’s statement said, “Currently, the unemployment rate is elevated and measures of underlying inflation are somewhat low, relative to levels that the Committee judges to be consistent, over the longer run, with its dual mandate.”

But since that statement, interest rates have actually gone up, backfiring on a Fed chief who wants his quantitative easing to spark inflation of 2% annually. A moderate amount of inflation would be considered good for the economy. Investors said the problem is that inflation is already running well above a healthy level.

Bernanke is just not looking in the right place, like a Walmart.