The Fed's favorite inflation gauge was already running hot. And that was before war sent gas prices soaring

Because oil is an input cost for freight, manufacturing, and more, a sustained energy shock has the potential to embed itself in the price of almost everything

M. Scott Brauer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The Bureau of Economic Analysis on Friday published January's Personal Income and Outlays report — three weeks behind schedule, a casualty of last fall’s record-long government shutdown. But the delay is just a minor footnote once you get a look at the data, which shows that inflation was coming in hot even before the surprise U.S. attack on Iran.

Worse? It’s reasonable to conclude inflation is set to increase from the January numbers. Steeply rising gas prices alone are enough.

Core inflation moving in the wrong........

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