Inflation likely was elevated last month even before the spike in oil and gas prices of the past two weeks that is expected to send consumer costs soaring in the months ahead. Consumer prices are forecast to have risen 2.5% in February from a year earlier when the Labor Department reports last month’s figures Wednesday, according to a survey of economists by data provider FactSet. That would be up slightly from 2.4% in the previous month. Core prices, which exclude the volatile food and energy categories, are expected to have also risen 2.5% in February, matching January’s figure for the lowest in five years. But the ... (full story)