This morning at 8:30 a.m., the Labor Department will release its newest
consumer price index report, and the White House is bracing itself for
the political impact of inflation numbers that are widely expected to be
the highest yet faced during the Biden administration.

- What to expect: Economists polled by Reuters anticipate that the
report will show that, year-over-year, “consumer prices rose 8.4% in
March, up from 7.9% in February.” That would be the highest rate
since December 1981, notes CNBC.
- Why it’s likely to be that bad: This is the first CPI report since
the large jump in oil and gas prices after Russia’s invasion of
Ukraine.
- Worth noting: “Economists consider two versions of the CPI data: The
headline number that includes all prices consumers face, and a
so-called core CPI that excludes often volatile food and energy
price fluctuations,” writes CNBC’s Thomas Franck. “The White House
says it anticipates a wider-than-normal disparity between the
headline and core readings because of an abnormal increase in gas
prices that occurred last month.”

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