{"id":390154,"date":"2026-04-09T16:55:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T16:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/390154\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T16:55:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T16:55:10","slug":"a-stubborn-inflation-gauge-stayed-hot-in-february-even-before-iran-war-gas-spike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/390154\/","title":{"rendered":"A stubborn inflation gauge stayed hot in February, even before Iran war gas spike"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 A key measure<\/a> of inflation stayed high in February, before the war in Iran spiked gas prices, a sign that everyday costs were elevated even before the conflict began. <\/p>\n

An inflation gauge monitored by the Federal Reserve rose 0.4% in February from January, up slightly from the previous month. Compared with a year ago, prices rose 2.8%, the same as January. Thursday\u2019s data was delayed by a backlog of economic reports created by the six-week government shutdown last fall. <\/p>\n

Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core inflation also rose 0.4% in February from January, and it was 3% higher than a year earlier. The annual figure is slightly below January\u2019s reading of 3.1%. <\/p>\n

Still, the monthly increases are at a pace that if continued for a whole year, would easily top the Fed\u2019s 2% inflation target. <\/p>\n

\u201cConsumer inflation was firming even prior to the outbreak of war in the Middle East, and it is primed to jump sharply higher in March,\u201d Kathy Bostjancic, chief economist at Nationwide, wrote in a client note. \u201cEven if a long-lasting deal to end the war is reached and the Strait of Hormuz is fully reopened, it would take months for oil, gasoline, diesel and other commodity supplies to snap back to prewar levels and thus for prices to settle back to preconflict levels.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thursday\u2019s report is largely a warm-up for the more important inflation data to be released Friday, when the government will publish the higher-profile consumer price index for March. The Friday report will be the first to reflect the impact of the gas price spike from the Iran war. Economists forecast it will show a big increase of 0.9% just in March from February, and a 3.4% gain from a year earlier. The annual figure would be a big increase from 2.4% in February. <\/p>\n

The large jump in inflation in March will heighten concerns at the Fed<\/a> that prices are moving further away from their inflation target and make it much less likely the central bank will cut rates anytime soon. At their most recent meeting last month, some Fed officials supported opening the door to the potential for rate hikes if inflation didn\u2019t show signs of improving. <\/p>\n

Thursday\u2019s report from the Commerce Department also showed that Americans\u2019 incomes slipped 0.1% in February, the first decline since October, while spending after adjusting for inflation barely increased. <\/p>\n

Higher inflation is sapping Americans\u2019 purchasing power. Spending rose a solid 0.5% in February from the previous month before adjusting for higher prices. Bostjancic expects consumer spending, adjusted for inflation, will rise a modest 1.2% at an annual rate in the first three months of this year, below the 1.9% reached in last year\u2019s fourth quarter. <\/p>\n

The economy may still grow a decent 2% in the first quarter, Bostjancic said, driven by investments in artificial intelligence and a bounceback in government spending after last year\u2019s shutdown. The government said Thursday growth was just 0.5%<\/a> at the end of last year. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 A key measure of inflation stayed high in February, before the war in Iran spiked…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390155,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[5948,154820,15197,72,5466,14020,113,34070,7756,1595,61,1095,11829,151033,60,14100,160028,1596],"class_list":{"0":"post-390154","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-2024-2025-mideast-wars","9":"tag-2024-2026-mideast-wars","10":"tag-ap-top-news","11":"tag-business","12":"tag-economic-indicators","13":"tag-economic-policy","14":"tag-economy","15":"tag-energy-markets","16":"tag-federal-reserve-system","17":"tag-general-news","18":"tag-ie","19":"tag-inflation","20":"tag-iran","21":"tag-iran-war","22":"tag-ireland","23":"tag-kathy-bostjancic","24":"tag-oil-and-gas-industry","25":"tag-u-s-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}