March’s runaway energy prices and higher food costs could mean hottest consumer inflation since 1981 – By Patti Domm (CNBC) / April 11, 2022
- Economists expect inflation rose 1.1% in March from the prior month, but the year-over-year gain is expected to be 8.4%, the highest since December 1981.
- The consumer price index will be reported Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. ET.
- The main culprits behind the jump in headline inflation were food and energy, but the cost of housing has continued to rise.
- “It’s going to be ugly,” said one economist of the March report. “It’s a perfect storm.”
Consumer price inflation in March is expected to have spiked the most since December 1981, driven by higher food costs, rising rents and runaway energy prices.
The consumer price index will be released Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. ET, and economists expect a monthly jump of 1.1% and a year-over-year gain of 8.4%, according to Dow Jones. That compares with February’s increase of 0.8%, or 7.9% year over year, the highest since early 1982.
“It’s going to be ugly,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. “It’s a perfect storm — Russian invasion, surging oil prices, China locking down, further disruptions to supply chains, wage growth accelerating, unfilled positions. Just a kind of scrambled mess leading to painfully high inflation. We’re struggling through two massive global supply shocks. It would be hard to imagine we didn’t suffer higher inflation.”
Core inflation, excluding food and energy, is expected to rise a half percent — the same as February — with a year-over-year gain of 6.6%, up from 6.4%, according to Dow Jones.
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