Sawt Falasteen - US consumer prices surge to new 40-year high of 9.1%

Government data released Wednesday showed a sharp, faster-than-expected increase in the consumer price index from the previous month driven by significant increases in gasoline prices.

The 9.1 percent CPI spike over the past 12 months to June was the fastest increase since November 1981, the Labor Department reported.

Energy contributed half of the monthly increase, as gasoline jumped 11.2 percent in June and a staggering 59.9 percent over the past year. Overall energy prices posted their biggest annual increase since April 1980.

The war in Ukraine has pushed global energy and food prices higher, and US gas prices at the pump last month hit a record of more than $5 a gallon.

However, energy prices have eased in recent weeks, which could start to relieve some of the pressure on consumers.

But the Federal Reserve is likely to continue its aggressive interest rate increases as it tries to tamp down the price surge by cooling demand before inflation becomes entrenched.

The US central bank last month implemented the biggest rate hike in nearly 30 years, and economists say another three-quarter-point increase is likely later this month.

Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroeconomics summed up the data in one word: "Ouch."

"This report will make for very uncomfortable reading at the Fed," he said. "It rules out the chance of the Fed hiking by only 50bp this month."

- Signs of cooling? -

Driven by record-high gasoline prices, the consumer price index jumped 1.3 percent in June.

But Shepherdson noted some signs of cooling prices in the data and predicted "this will be the last big increase."

When volatile food and energy prices are stripped out of the calculation, "core" CPI increased 5.9 percent over the past year -- still a rapid pace but slowing from the pace in May, according to the data.

Food and housing prices also rose in June, as did car prices, though the rate has stabilized or slowed from the past month, the report said.

The White House came out ahead of the report to predict it would show "highly elevated" inflation.

But press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre noted that the "backwards looking inflation data" does not take into account recent declines in gasoline prices.

According to AAA, the national average price at the pump was down to $4.63 a gallon, from $5.01 a month ago.

X.Habash--SF-PST