How the Ukraine-Russia conflict may push up prices for Americans

cnbc.com:

The economic effects of Russia's invasion of Ukraine a week ago have reverberated around the globe — leaving many households to wonder how the conflict might hit their wallet.

The short answer: Prices may be going up, especially for gasoline (and indeed already have). Costs for food and goods like smartphones may also rise, according to economists.

Inflation would largely result from shortages and rising costs of raw materials like oil, wheat and metals like palladium — all of which Russia is a major producer.   

It would also come at a time when consumer prices are already rising at their fastest annual pace in 40 years.

Yet some of the inflation (if it comes to pass) will likely take months to appear, economists said. The timing and scale are hard to predict given the fluidity of the military conflict, novelty of Western sanctions against Russia and possibility of yet harsher ones.

«What makes projecting this stuff so difficult is, all these measures are so new and so unprecedented as a model,» according to Julia Friedlander, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and a former advisor on sanctions policy at the U.S. Treasury Department.

«What's it like to take the 11th largest economy offline in the course of days?» she said.

The Federal Reserve is also expected to start raising interest rates this month to fight inflation.

The price of gasoline is how consumers are most likely to feel the war's inflationary impact in the short term, according to economists. Indeed, gas prices have risen since Russia's saber-rattling started, even before the Feb. 24 invasion.

Crude oil is the main component of gasoline.

It accounts for 56% of what Americans pay at the pump, according to the Energy Information Administration. That's