Wall Street is also concerned about an unwelcome side-effect of the comeback: a jump in inflation.
The Labor Department will release the March consumer price index at 8:30 AM ET, with a big rise expected in the annual headline number. Economists expect the CPI to rise 0.5% for the month, with the core CPI, ex food and energy, up 0.2%, both 0.1 percentage point higher than February. Year over year, the CPI is forecast to be 2.5%, up from 1.7%, with the core rate at 1.5%, up from 1.3%.
Economists say that inflation numbers are expected to have a kind of sticker-shock effect in the coming months because of base effects. The year-over-year numbers will appear to be large because the comparable 2020 months were at the heart of the economic shutdown. |