{"id":2603857,"date":"2026-05-18T08:20:02","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T12:20:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/inflation-still-has-room-to-run-experts-fear\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T08:23:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T12:23:24","slug":"inflation-still-has-room-to-run-experts-fear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/inflation-still-has-room-to-run-experts-fear\/","title":{"rendered":"Inflation still has room to run, experts fear"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Finflation-still-has-room-to-run-experts-fear%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2603857&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Recent inflation reports are raising fears that price increases may not have peaked. After the war in Iran and related energy disruptions, headline inflation has reached its highest level since 2023, with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sorry-legacy-media-the-fbis-trump-raid-doesnt-change-the-fact-that-bidens-presidency-sucks\/\" title=\"Sorry Legacy Media, The FBI\u2019s Trump Raid Doesn\u2019t Change The Fact That Biden\u2019s Presidency Sucks\">consumer price index rising<\/a> to 3.8% year-over-year and producer prices jumping sharply.Economists say these higher wholesale costs are likely to filter through to retail prices, keeping upcoming readings elevated.  <\/p>\n<p>The piece also argues that inflation was already trending upward before Iran entered the picture, pointing to broader fiscal concerns-persistent deficits and continued government spending without meaningful restraint. While there may be some optimism that this wave won\u2019t match the extreme inflation seen under Joe Biden, the cost pressures are already hitting consumers through notably higher gas prices, and the political stakes are high as Republicans head into upcoming midterm elections.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<article class=\"fn-body\">\n<p>After two painful <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/inflation\/\">inflation<\/a> reports this week, some economists think that inflation could push even higher in the coming months \u2014 bad news for consumers and for President <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\">Donald Trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The war in <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/iran\">Iran<\/a> and subsequent <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/section\/policy\/energy-and-environment\/\" type=\"category\" id=\"36\">energy<\/a> price increases have pushed up headline inflation to levels not seen since 2023. And a big question on the minds of economists, consumers, and politicians is whether it has peaked or if it could keep getting worse.<\/p>\n<section class=\"explore-more-section\" id=\"wex-recommended-widget\">\n<div class=\"magazine-container single\">\n<h1 class=\"magazine-title mt-2\">Recommended Stories<\/h1>\n<p>             <i class=\"fa-solid fa-play icon\"><\/i>         <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-grid\">\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/4571163\/inflation-room-run-experts\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Inflation still has room to run, experts fear<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/4557239\/faith-and-government-leaders-celebrate-us-as-one-nation-under-god-at-rededicate-250\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Faith and government leaders celebrate US as \u2018One Nation Under God\u2019 at Rededicate 250<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/4562996\/june-social-security-direct-payment-goes-out-15-days\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>June Social Security direct payment worth $994 goes out in 15 days<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/4567535\/gop-mounting-political-pressure-pass-bipartisan-housing-bill\/\"><strong>GOP FACES MOUNTING POLITICAL PRESSURE TO PASS BIPARTISAN HOUSING BILL<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019ve hit the peak,\u201d Stephen Kates, a financial analyst at Bankrate, told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>This week was a big one for inflation news.<\/p>\n<p>First, <span style=\"box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;\">the most <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >closely watched consumer price index showed<\/a> that annual inflation\u00a0spiked by <\/span><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/finance-and-economy\/4563753\/inflation-april-iran-energy-prices\/\">0.5 percentage points<\/a> to 3.8% for the year ending in April. The April inflation reading was the highest since May 2023. In March alone, prices rose 0.9%.<\/p>\n<p>And on Wednesday, the producer price index showed wholesale inflation shot up to a blistering 6%, the biggest increase since 2022. It increased an astonishing 1.4% in April alone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s a \u2018holy cow\u2019 reading,\u201d Ryan Young, senior economist at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>.\u00a0\u201cAnd as that works its way through supply chains up from the wholesaler level, and then on to retail and consumers, that\u2019s a sign that the next few CPI readings are likely to continue being high.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A lot of this massive run-up in inflation is directly attributable to the war in the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/middle-east\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"102\">Middle East<\/a> and supply disruptions related to the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/strait-of-hormuz\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"21488\">Strait of Hormuz<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"92ca70bd-f4c2-42c4-a4d2-9a63c12d369c\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"April 2026 cpi for homepage\"><\/div>\n<p><script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(e,n,i,s){var d=\"InfogramEmbeds\";var o=e.getElementsByTagName(n)[0];if(window[d]&&window[d].initialized)window[d].process&&window[d].process();else if(!e.getElementById(i)){var r=e.createElement(n);r.async=1,r.id=i,r.src=s,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,\"script\",\"infogram-async\",\"https:\/\/e.infogram.com\/js\/dist\/embed-loader-min.js\");<\/script>    <\/p>\n<p>Energy prices have shot up in recent months because of the war with Iran. A <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/oil\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"292\">barrel of oil<\/a> was about $65 before the war and rose to more than $100 last month when the latest inflation reports were taken.<\/p>\n<p>Consumers are feeling the pinch. In January, before the war, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gas-prices-have-risen-by-1-25-per-gallon-since-last-year\/\" title=\"Gas Prices Have Risen By .25 Per Gallon Since Last Year\">average gas prices<\/a> in the United States reached $2.78 per gallon, according to the Energy Information Administration. As of early May, they have punched up to $4.45 per gallon, a 60% increase.<\/p>\n<p>The bigger concern is that the longer the conflict drags on and energy prices are elevated, the more inflation will start to show through in other goods.<\/p>\n<p>For instance, when food is shipped somewhere, it now costs more to move because diesel fuel is more expensive, which can eventually result in higher prices at grocery stores.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe longer that the conflict goes on, the more all of this is going to \u2014 oil prices, <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/gas-prices\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"940\">diesel prices<\/a>, jet fuel prices \u2014 will trickle into the rest of the economy, and that\u2019s probably where a lot of this is now going to come from, in terms of sort of direct impacts,\u201d Kates said.<\/p>\n<p>But there is also another element at play: Inflation was still being propped up above the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/federal-reserve\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"726\">Federal Reserve\u2019s<\/a> 2% target before the war in Iran began, further complicating the inflation landscape.<\/p>\n<p>Veronique de Rugy, a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> that there are deeper issues regarding the country\u2019s fiscal situation.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position: relative; width: 100%; height: 0px; padding: 66.7% 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; will-change: transform;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/e.infogram.com\/bdc07528-2e2b-416b-ba52-abf34cf63783?src=embed&#038;embed_type=responsive_iframe\" title=\"Gas Prices\" allowfullscreen allow=\"fullscreen\" style=\"position: absolute; width: 100%; height: 100%; top: 0px; left: 0px; border-width: medium; border-style: none; border-color: currentcolor; border-image: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>\u201cThe problem is that inflation started ticking back up before the war in Iran, and that I think is a continuation of the problems that started the inflation in the first place, and I think that\u2019s the fiscal side,\u201d de Rugy said.<\/p>\n<p>She also noted that deficits remain an issue and that <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/congress\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"31\">Congress<\/a> has done little to rein in spending.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think the conditions are there because Congress continues to signal that it\u2019s not serious about controlling the fiscal side, the deficit is going up, right? No one is talking about austerity,\u201d de Rugy said.<\/p>\n<p>And in a best-case scenario, if the situation with Iran is resolved and the strait opens, there are longer-term infrastructure concerns that could prevent energy prices from falling quickly, according to Kates.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe damage that was done to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/israel-hits-worlds-largest-natural-gas-field-in-iran\/\" title=\"Israel hits world&#039;s largest natural gas field in ...\">energy production infrastructure<\/a> in the Middle East \u2026 the damage done to that is going to take so long to correct, refineries have been destroyed, pumping equipment destroyed or impacted in some way \u2014 that isn\u2019t going to be fixed in a matter of months, it\u2019ll be years,\u201d Kates said.<\/p>\n<p>The whole situation is obviously negative for consumers and for Republicans heading into the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/2026-election\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"11675\">midterm elections<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Trump\u2019s economic approval ratings have fallen dramatically since he entered office, largely because of voter discontent over <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/affordability\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"21532\">affordability<\/a>. The higher inflation prints could imperil Republicans in the midterm elections.<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/premium\/4568013\/gop-urgency-housing-bill-midterm-elections\/\"><strong>HILL REPUBLICANS SEE URGENCY IN PASSING HOUSING BILL AHEAD OF MIDTERM ELECTIONS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>But there is some optimism that the current wave of inflation won\u2019t be nearly as bad as the one experienced under former President Joe Biden, when inflation spiked at multi-decade highs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s because that kind of inflation requires some shenanigans at the Federal Reserve,\u201d Young said. and who knows what <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/kevin-warsh\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"20643\">[Kevin]  Warsh<\/a> is going to do, but I think he\u2019s competent enough where he\u2019s not going to mismanage things by cutting interest rates or growing the balance sheets more than he should.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After two painful inflation reports, economists warn prices may rise again-worrying for consumers and Trump<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3360,"featured_media":2603858,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2275330124.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651,538],"tags":[51942,4521,5708,33477,79847],"class_list":["post-2603857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","category-washington-examiner","tag-economic-outlook","tag-experts","tag-inflation","tag-interest-rates","tag-market-fears"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2275330124.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2603857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3360"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2603857"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2603857\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2603861,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2603857\/revisions\/2603861"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2603858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2603857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2603857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2603857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}