Everyone is looking closely at inflation and everyone expects the Iran attacks to cause more inflation. I am not sure about that, and it isn’t going to show up in the February figures in any event. February’s CPI numbers were pretty much more of the same–overall low level of inflation, but continued higher rises in some items of particular significance to the average consumer. The overall number was .3% month over month and 2.4% for the year-over-year, right in line with expectations. Housing rose .2%, food .4% and energy .6%. The index that excludes food and energy rose .2% for the month and 2.5% for the last twelve months. Some areas like car insurance are flat or down, which is an improvement. Medical care continues to be a sore spot, increasing .6% for the month and 4.1% over the last year, which I think is an understatement. Wage data suggests that increases there are growing faster than inflation. (BLS Release)
