Strong German inflation good news for ECB, damper for consumers

By Michael Nienaber and Joseph Nasr BERLIN (Reuters) - German inflation rose more than expected in December, hitting the highest level in more than three years, preliminary data showed on Tuesday, a welcome sign for the European Central Bank that price pressures in Europe's biggest economy are pushing up. German consumer prices, harmonised to compare with other European countries (HICP), rose by 1.7 percent on the year after an increase of 0.7 percent in November, the Federal Statistics Office s