CNN reporter: The March 2026 CPI report is “the worst inflation report in years”
Matt Egan: "Gas prices up by 21% between February and March. That's the most in any month since they started tracking this back in 1967."
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From the April 10, 2026, edition of CNN's CNN News Central
JOHN BERMAN (ANCHOR): And we do have breaking news about how much this is costing you. Brand new inflation numbers just in, the biggest jump in the annual inflation rate in nearly two years, and biggest jump in month to month in about four. Let's get right to CNN's Matt Egan here with the details on this. Again, pretty big increase.
MATT EGAN (CNN SENIOR REPORTER): Yeah, John, look, we knew the war hit this economy like an earthquake. This is the first damage assessment and it's not looking good. The fingerprints of the conflict all over this inflation report. So, consumer prices up by 0.9% month over month. That is triple the prior monthly inflation rate. And that is the highest in any month in almost four years. You've got to go back to June 2022, back when gas was at $5 a gallon. The annual inflation rate bumped up to 3.3%. That's almost a full percentage point increase. That is — when you look at the trend for annual inflation, look at that.
BERMAN: Oh, wow.
EGAN: Going almost straight up. That's not what you want to see. In fact, John, that's the highest annual inflation rate — yeah, look at that, moving the wrong direction. Highest annual inflation rate, as you mentioned, in almost two years, and 3.3%: This is the highest annual inflation rate for any month of either of President Trump's presidencies. And remember, you're targeting 2%. So, not what you want to see.
As far as why this happened, as you might imagine, a lot of this big increase in month over month was driven by the fact that gasoline went up at a historic pace, right? The BLS says that about three-quarters of this monthly inflation rate increase is directly linked to gasoline. Gas prices up by 21% between February and March. That's the most in any month since they started tracking this back in 1967. One other thing to call out here is airfare. Airfare got more expensive significantly, almost 3% more expensive month over month. But because jet fuel prices have basically doubled, we're going to probably see higher and higher airfare coming through. So, that's not the whole story here. So, you put it all together, and you got the worst inflation report in years.
BERMAN: All right. I mean the question is how long might this linger? If the ceasefire deal does take hold, the gas prices come down enough over the next month to maybe bring it down. But there will be some, I think, lingering effects, yes?
EGAN: Yeah, absolutely.