US growth

US inflation rises to three-year high

Inflation rose as expected to 4.2 percent in May, up from 3.8 percent in April. This is according to statistics from the US statistics agency BLS.

This is the first time in three years that inflation in the US has exceeded 4 percent. At the same time, core inflation rose to 2.9 percent at an annual rate.

Among other things, gasoline prices rose 40.5 percent compared to the same period last year, while energy prices as a whole rose 23.5 percent.

Experts: Iran war hits American households hard

The longer the conflict in the Persian Gulf continues, the broader and more noticeable inflationary pressure will be in the US. This is what several analysts warn, several media outlets write.

US inflation rose as expected to 4.2 percent in May. The increase was in line with expectations, but is the highest level in more than three years and is largely driven by higher fuel prices in the wake of the Iran war.

“Now that the Iran crisis has continued into June, we are starting to see broader effects across multiple categories of consumer prices,” Jeffrey Roach, chief economist at LPL Financial, told Reuters.

PNC Financial’s chief economist Gus Faucher is on the same track. He describes the price increase as a “serious problem for households” who are paying more for energy and other goods, which “will hamper consumption growth later this year.”