Latest News Updates From Paul Wiseman

Energy prices climbed 7.8% from March to April and 22.7% from a year earlier. Gasoline soared 15.6% from March and diesel jumped 12.6%.

Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, wrote, “For the first time in three years, inflation is eating up all wage gains."

The Iran war has caused the biggest disruption of global oil supplies in history. But the conflict hasn’t done much damage to the American job market so far.

Growth in consumer spending, which accounts for 70% of U.S. economic activity, slowed to 1.6% in the first quarter from 1.9% at the end of 2025.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will begin hearings in two investigations that are expected to lead to a new round of U.S. tariffs.

The IMF downgraded its forecast for global growth to 3.1% in 2026 from the 3.3% it had forecast back in January. 

The Labor Department reported that its producer price index rose 0.5% from February and 4% from March 2025. Energy prices surged 8.5% from February.

For all of 2025, the economy grew 2.1%, slower than 2.8% in 2024 and 2.9% in 2023.

The Labor Department reported March 18 that its producer price index rose 0.7% from January, and 3.4% from February 2025. 

The U.S. economy, hobbled by last fall’s 43-day government shutdown, advanced at an unexpectedly sluggish 0.7% annual rate from October through December, the Commerce Department reported.