{"id":5714,"date":"2026-03-12T17:44:45","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T17:44:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/12\/inflation-was-steady-in-february-before-the-iran-war-drove-up-gas-prices\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T17:44:45","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T17:44:45","slug":"inflation-was-steady-in-february-before-the-iran-war-drove-up-gas-prices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/12\/inflation-was-steady-in-february-before-the-iran-war-drove-up-gas-prices\/","title":{"rendered":"Inflation was steady in February before the Iran war drove up gas prices"},"content":{"rendered":"

Consumer price growth was steady in February, right before the Iran war rattled global energy markets and sent prices skyrocketing.<\/p>\n

The consumer price index rose 0.3% month over month or 2.4% from one year ago, which was in line with what analysts and economists were expecting.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, was also reported right in line with expectations, rising 0.2% from January or 2.5% from one year ago.<\/p>\n

Grocery prices roes 0.4% from January to February, and are now tracking a 2.4% increase from a year ago, while “food away from home,” a category that measures dining out, rose 0.3% from January and has now risen 3.9% from one year ago.<\/p>\n

\"Shoppers
Shoppers in the SoHo neighborhood of New York on Feb. 13, 2026.<\/span>Michael Nagle \/ Bloomberg via Getty Images file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

February\u2019s report was produced before the United States and Israel launched a large-scale attack on Iran on the final day of the month. <\/p>\n

The critical Strait of Hormuz off Iran\u2019s western coast has been effectively shut down since the war began. <\/p>\n

More than 20% of the globe\u2019s supply of oil typically transits through the waterway to reach the international markets. As a result, the price of U.S. crude oil has increased more than 20% since the first strikes. Retail gas prices have also soared more than 50 cents. <\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s CPI report is already something of a historical artefact,\u201d wrote Principal Asset Management\u2019s Seema Shah in a note. \u201cWith oil prices up roughly $30 in recent weeks \u2014 and potentially heading toward triple digits \u2014 investors are far more focused on how the conflict feeds into inflation over the months ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also in February, the Supreme Court struck down many of President Donald Trump\u2019s tariffs, ruling that he exceeded his presidential authority when he imposed country-specific emergency tariffs last year. While Trump has since replaced some of these tariffs with a global 10% duty, the impact on prices is not yet clear.<\/p>\n

With the latest report, consumer inflation still sits north of the Federal Reserve\u2019s 2% target annual rate, but it has come down in recent months from its high of 3% in September. <\/p>\n

A number of consumer products saw sharp price jumps last month. <\/p>\n

Clothes and shoes rose 1.3% just on a month-over-month basis, in what could be a hint of tariffs passing through to consumers. <\/p>\n

Gas services provided by a utility also jumped 3.1% in the month, as did fruits and vegetables, whose prices rose 1.4% in February. A number of meat products also saw jumps in the month. <\/strong><\/p>\n

The category that includes appliances and household furnishings is also up 3.9% year-over-year, in yet another sign of how tariffs have impacted sectors that rely heavily on imports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Consumer price growth was steady in February, right before the Iran war rattled global energy markets and sent prices skyrocketing. The consumer price index rose 0.3% month over month or 2.4% from one year ago, which was in line with what analysts and economists were expecting. Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":5715,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5714","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}