Inflation: Gas costs lead price advance

Consumer prices jumped in March by the most in nearly nine years, said Reade Pickert in Bloomberg.com. The Labor Department’s consumer price index, which measures the costs of everyday items such as groceries and clothing, rose 0.6 percent from February, pushing inflation up to 2.6 percent since January. The figures “add fuel to an already heated debate about the path of inflation in the U.S.,” as economists fret over the “wave of pent-up demand” combined with supplychain bottlenecks and shortages. “Almost half the overall March advance” was owed to a 9 percent jump in the cost of gasoline.