The U.S. Department of Labor reported on Wednesday that the Consumer Price Index rose by 2.4% year-on-year in February.

This data is unchanged from January and matches the expectations of surveyed economists. The core price, excluding the volatile food and energy items, also rose 2.5% year-on-year, in line with expectations. However, since the outbreak of the Iran conflict, U.S. benchmark crude oil futures have fluctuated sharply, with the average trading price so far this month around $82 per barrel, compared to an average price of about $65 per barrel in February. Therefore, March's inflation data may be even hotter. Joseph Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM, estimates that according to the rule of thumb, for every $10 increase per barrel in oil prices, the Labor Department's inflation reading rises by about 0.2 percentage points. Although the calculation details vary slightly among different economists, most believe that oil prices will push up March's inflation. Economists also believe that due to last year's government shutdown, the October housing cost growth data was missing, which has artificially suppressed the current year-on-year inflation reading. However, this downward bias should disappear in the April inflation report, when the calculated inflation rate will rebound accordingly.