Prices for gas, food and housing – which are necessary rather than discretionary spending – drove the February price increases.
February prices rose 0.8%, adjusted for seasonal swings, more than in January. Gasoline prices alone rose 6.6% and contributed nearly a third of the overall inflation increase.
Food prices rose 1% last month, the largest monthly increase since April 2020.
About a third of the 24-cent a gallon increase in the price of regular gas occurred in the final five days of the month, after Russia invaded Ukraine, according to data collected for AAA by the Oil Price Information Service. But prices have soared since then, with the price of a gallon of regular gas rising by 71 cents, or about 20%, just since the end of February to stand at $ 4.36 a gallon on Thursday.
This is a developing story. It will be updated
CNN’s Betsy Klein and Chris Isidore contributed to this report.
