*Runs to Check the Latest Inflation Report*

…yep, it’s still high.

Inflation rose 8.5% in March from a year earlier, per Labor Department figures released yesterday, its fastest annual pace since December 1981. It's the fifth straight month inflation has hit a new 40-year high.

• The consumer price index, a key inflation measure tracking what consumers pay for goods and services, rose 1.2% from February to March, the highest monthly increase since September 2005.

📝 A breakdown…

• Energy/fuel: Accounted for more than half of the index’s total monthly jump, with energy prices increasing 11% overall in March from the prior month. Gas prices went up 18.3% month-over-month.
• Food: Was also a major contributor to inflation. An index of food prices rose 8.8% in March from the prior year, the biggest annual increase since 1981, driven by an increase in the price of meat, poultry, fish and eggs.
• The core index (with food + energy/fuel stripped out): Increased 6.5% in March from a year earlier – up from February’s 6.4% rise, and the sharpest 12-month rise since August 1982.

📸 Big picture: High inflation is the downside of booming growth as the economy bounces back from Covid, the WSJ reports. Fed officials began raising interest rates last month to rein in lending, spending and demand, and the central bank’s top goal at the moment is to reduce inflation, Fed governor Lael Brainard said at an event yesterday.

• Russian oil bans have also rocked global energy markets and are causing trouble for US consumers and businesses in both direct and indirect ways. In addition to gas, commercial transportation, utilities, fertilizers and more have shot up in price since the invasion began.

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