Fox Business contributor: “We've got essentially a situation of stagflation light”
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From the March 13, 2026, edition of Fox Business' Varney & Co.
STUART VARNEY (HOST): I think that, today, the price of oil is a more important number than the inflation rate. What say you?
LOU BASENESE (FOX BUSINESS CONTRIBUTOR): It's all that matters now, but I do think you have got to pay attention to the inflation number, because we've got essentially a situation of stagflation light. You see inflation starting to creep higher, but the GDP report this morning showed a revision down to only 0.7% growth. So, the Fed is definitely going to hold rates, but they should be cutting. The fear and the cover that they have is that the war in Iran, and the price of oil, is pushing up expectations for more inflation.
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BASENESE: I think we're in a weird situation right now. The Fed needs to act to get us out of this, otherwise stagflation, full-blown, is definitely a possibility.
VARNEY: That doesn't sound good, does it?
BASENESE: No, no one wants that.