America’s inflation problem didn’t abate in March. Prices kept creeping up, hitting a fresh 40-year high, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed Tuesday. The Consumer Price Index rose 8.5% for the year ended in March, not adjusted for seasonal swings. That increase outpaced February’s elevated reading of 7.9% and marked a level not seen since December 1981 when the CPI stood at 8.9%. Tuesday’s March data was also slightly higher than the 8.4% economists had predicted.
