The printing of the US Consumer Price Index (CPI) 8.5% was even higher than market expectations, which called for an increase in price pressures to 8.4%. The latest figures follow the annual profit of 7.9% in February.
Core inflation, which subtracts volatile food and energy costs, accelerated to 6.5% from last year, surprisingly downward. Meanwhile, the monthly increase was also below market expectations, rising 0.3%.
The largest price increases were reported in the cost of gasoline, food and housing. “The petrol index rose 18.3 percent in March and accounted for more than half of the monthly increase of all kinds. Other energy component ratios also increased. “The food index rose 1.0 percent and the home food index rose 1.5 percent,” the statement said.
In an immediate reaction to the data, gold jumped more than $ 25 and reached new daily highs to test the level of $ 1,975 per ounce. Comex June futures traded last at $ 1,976.50, up 1.45% on the day.
Despite warmer-than-expected inflation in March, some economists believe the first month of spring will signal the peak of price pressures.
“March is likely to be the peak of inflation, as the indexes will decline from some strong measurements from last year starting in April, while gasoline prices have fallen recently,” said CIBC Capital Markets economist Kathryn Judge.
At the same time, the March issue reinforces the Federal Reserve’s intention to tighten aggressively at its May meeting. “To meet inflation target in 2023, the Fed will tend to raise interest rates by 50 basis points in the next FOMC, followed by a series of 25 basis points in subsequent sessions, before temporarily stopping in the fourth quarter,” he added. Judge.
A day before the figures were released on Tuesday, the Biden government said it expected the March inflation report to be “extremely high”, citing rising oil and gas prices following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“We expect the CPI metric inflation in March to be extremely high due to Putin’s price increases,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Monday. “We expect a big difference between core and metric inflation – which reflects global disruptions in the energy and food markets.”
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