The economic landscape in this country looks very different now than it did four weeks ago — from the sharply higher gas prices consumers face every time they fill up, to the ugly losses folks are seeing in their stock portfolios and retirement accounts, to the prospect of higher inflation and higher interest rates sticking around for a much longer time. “The impact so far has been very negative. There’s no upside to this, there’s nothing but downside,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. “Obviously we’re paying a lot more for gasoline. Before all this we were paying less than $3 a gallon, now we’re paying $4. And the direction of travel is pretty disconcerting.”
Inflation pressure is already reflected in sharply rising interest rates. “If you want to go out and get a mortgage, you have to pay 6.5% on a 30-year fixed. That’s up about a half a point,” Zandi said. “If you’re a business, I wouldn’t count on any more rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.”
Another place feeling the impact of four weeks of war is the stock market, said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research.
“The market has taken a one-two punch and is staggering like an aging boxer,” he said. All of the major indexes are down sharply. That doesn’t mean that every sector’s suffering; energy stocks are up 25%.
“There’s an old saying that when the going gets tough, the tough go eating, smoking and drinking,” Stovall said. “So you have consumer staples — food, beverage, tobacco — are down, but less than 1%.” | 
