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For the U.S., the OECD expects inflation to jump to 4.2% this year, from 2.6% last year. Its price outlook is 1.2 percentage points higher than in December.

Wall Street is cutting its forecasts for the U.S. economy this year, boosting its projections for inflation and unemployment.

Fatih Birol said at Australia’s National Press Club that the war has had a worse impact on oil than the two oil shocks of the 1970s combined.

The Federal Open Market Committee voted 11-1 to hold the benchmark federal funds rate in a range of 3.5% to 3.75%. Governor Stephen Miran dissented.

The moving and storage industry faces potential tailwinds from factors like bigger tax returns in Q2, even as economic obstacles remain.

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.

The data has been overtaken by a conflict that began when the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28. Gas prices have jumped sharply and are expected to fuel higher costs broadly. 

The most immediate impact from the escalating Middle East conflict is through market reaction as investors take flight to safe havens such as the dollar and gold, while stocks slump.

Runaway freight is one of the most tangible market responses to a conflict that began on Feb. 28 and culminated with the vital Strait of Hormuz choke point all-but closing to tanker traffic.

A downturn in government and consumer spending contributed to the slowdown in fourth-quarter growth, the government said. Consumer spending rose just 2.2%.