MaddowBlog- U.S. inflation surged in March, pushed higher by the effects of the war in Iran

[LetMyPeopleVote]

Trump told the public last week that there’s been “no inflation.” That was absurd at the time, and it’s worse now.

Trump, in his national address last week: There’s been “no inflation.”

Reality, this week: Yeah, about that....
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-04-10T13:05:41.803Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/u-s-inflation-surged-in-march-pushed-higher-by-the-effects-of-the-war-in-iran

On Thursday, core personal consumption expenditures price index, which is closely watched by the Federal Reserve to gauge inflation, offered more discouraging news. On Friday morning, things looked even worse. CNBC reported:

Consumer prices spiked in March as the Iran war sent energy costs soaring and took the Federal Reserve further from its inflation target, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report Friday. Underlying inflation, however, was relatively tame.

The consumer price index increased a seasonally adjusted 0.9% for the month, putting the annual inflation rate at 3.3%, pushed by a 10.9% surge in energy costs.

The data was entirely in line with expectations, but that won’t matter much to American consumers who are struggling with the highest CPI in two years. What’s more, inflation in March showed the highest one-month increase in prices in roughly four years, when oil prices spiked following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The price of gasoline, meanwhile, saw its largest one-month increase since 1967.