US Inflation nears eight per cent

US consumer price growth hit 7.9% ahead of a surge in energy prices following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, further raising pressure on the Federal Reserve to more substantively tighten monetary policy. It is now being marked as the fastest annual increase in CPI since 1982. Furthermore, the latest report was done prior to Russia's full-scale attack on Ukraine and the US and its allies' unveiling of the most punitive financial penalties ever levied on a country in retaliation. In addition to enforcing sanctions on Russia's central bank and ringfencing the country from the global financial system, the Biden administration this week banned imports of Russian oil and gas into the US. The actions have rocked global energy markets, sending gas and oil prices rocketing, with wheat, nickel and other commodities also soaring. Resultantly, headline inflation is expected to rise and the peak in the pace of consumer price growth that was broadly expected later this year is likely to be delayed.