Consumer prices rose 3.3% in March, as energy prices spiked due to Iran conflict
Source: CNBC
Published Fri, Apr 10 2026 8:31 AM EDT Updated 2 Min Ago
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 reported 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. Both numbers were in line with the Dow Jones consensus. The annual rate was the highest since April 2024 and up from 2.4% in February.
However, excluding food and energy, core prices rose much less – just 0.2% for the month and 2.6% from a year ago, both 0.1 percentage point below forecast, indicating that underlying inflation was more contained. There even were even pockets of outright price declines, as medical care, personal care, and used cars and trucks all fell during the month.
The Iran conflict was the story for the monthly inflation reading, as gasoline soared 21.2%, accounting for nearly three-quarters of the headline price increase, according to the BLS.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/10/cpi-inflation-report-march-2026.html
From the source -
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@BLS_gov
CPI for all items rises 0.9% in March; gasoline up #BLSData https://bls.gov/news.release/a
rchives/cpi_04102026.htm
8:30 AM · Apr 10, 2026
Article updated.
Previous articles/headline -
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.
The consumer price index increased 0.9% for the month, putting the annual inflation rate at 3.3%, pushed by a 10.9% surge in energy costs. Both numbers were in line with the Dow Jones consensus.
However, excluding food and energy, core prices rose much less - just 0.2% for the month and 2.6% from a year ago, both 0.1 percentage point below forecast, indicating that underlying inflation was more contained.
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Original article/headline -
Published Fri, Apr 10 2026 8:31 AM EDT
The consumer price index was expected to show a 3.3% year-over-year gain in March, according to the Dow Jones consensus estimate.
This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.
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CORE CPI - does not include food and energy
I guess the fuel and fertilizer spike-up since the beginning of the current Iran War (which started February 28) have not filtered down yet to non-food, non-energy items yet, given that the CORE (which doesn't include food nor energy) increased only 0.196% (2.38% annualized) from February to March, if their numbers are to be believed. The 0.196% rounds to 0.2% which is what's reported.
(The 0.196% is calculated using their actual index numbers as is the annualization).
REGULAR: https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CUSR0000SA0
CORE: http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CUSR0000SA0L1E
