US Inflation level keep creeping UP…..

It’s the Economy Stupid!

The economists can keep saying we have a Great Economy….

Consumers and voters REALLY DO NOT see things that way….

They see themselves paying higher prices for just about everything….

Worst?

Interest rates are climbing also….

Consumer prices rose 8.5 percent in the year through March, reaching the fastest inflation rate since 1981. Stubbornly rapid price increases have been exacerbated by a surge in gas costs tied to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Fuel prices jumped sharply higher last month, with the U.S. average for a gallon of regular gas peaking at $4.33 on March 11.

Gas is not the entire story. Stripping out volatile fuel and food, so-called core prices climbed at a brisk 6.5 percent in the year through March, up from 6.4 percent in the year through February. Even so, the core index offered a rare glimmer of good inflation news: It slowed down a bit on a monthly basis, rising 0.3 percent from February, compared with 0.5 percent the prior month.

March’s data may represent a high-water mark for inflation, some economists have said. Overall price increases could begin abating in the coming months in part because gasoline prices have come down somewhat — a gallon cost $4.10 on Tuesday, according to AAA. Researchers have been expecting consumers to stop buying so many goods, like cars and appliances, potentially taking pressure off overburdened supply chains and allowing prices for those products to moderate.

Given the pop in gasoline prices in March, “these numbers are likely to represent something of a peak,” said Gregory Daco, the chief economist at Ernst & Young’s strategy consultancy, EY-Parthenon. Still, he said, it will be critical to watch whether the core numbers slow down on a monthly basis this spring and summer.

A spate of recent developments could keep inflation uncomfortably high…..

More….