• Energy prices drove overall inflation up sharply in March, giving a boost to the I Bond’s variable rate calculation.
• I Bonds purchased before May 1 will offer an overall one-year return of 2.4%, but most importantly will carry a permanent fixed rate of 0.5%.
• My advice continues to be: Buy I Bonds up to your full allocation before the fixed rate is reset on May 1.

U.S. inflation surged a bit in March, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today, providing the final piece of data needed to set the new inflation-adjusted variable rate for U.S. Series I Savings Bonds.

Read my full analysis on SeekingAlpha.com

Also, I have updated my Tracking Inflation and I Bonds page with the new data.

And here are the new May inflation indexes for all TIPS.