Scott Horsley

Retail gasoline prices have also jumped sharply.

If pump prices remain high, shoppers may have to cut back elsewhere.

The wartime spike in energy prices was not reflected in February's cost-of-living index, which came out on Wednesday...

It showed prices up by a relatively modest 2.4 percent over the last year.

Given the jump in gas prices, however, the March inflation rate is likely to look worse.

For the week, the Nasdaq lost 1.25 percent, the S&P 500 index fell 1.6 percent, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 2 percent.

Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.

The Justice Department subpoenaed the Federal Reserve back in January, ostensibly to learn more about cost overruns on the central bank's headquarters renovation.

But federal judge James Boasberg says that's a mere pretext.

In a newly unsealed opinion, Boasberg says the Justice Department offered no evidence that Fed Chairman Jerome Powell had committed a crime.

other than displeasing the president by not moving more aggressively to lower interest rates.

At the same time, the judge says there's abundant evidence that the purpose of the criminal probe was to harass and pressure the Fed chairman.

The case has become a test of the Fed's ability to set interest rates without political interference from the White House.

Republican Senator Tom Tillis, who's defended the Fed, says the ruling confirms how weak and frivolous the government's investigation was.

Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.

This neighborhood has transformed.

GDP grew at an annual rate of just seven-tenths of one percent in the fourth quarter, down from the original tally of 1.4 percent.

The markdown reflects weaker exports, consumer spending, and government spending,

during a period that included the six-week government shutdown.

For all of last year, the U.S.