Oil prices are heading to $100 a barrel. Gasoline is moving back to $4 a gallon. Topline inflation has been going up — not down — in recent months because of the oil shock.

The Federal Reserve has a history of accommodating, or monetizing, oil shocks, especially the 1970s, but also including the early 2000s. So, now, the latest shock is a Fed challenge. Today at his press conference, though, the Fed head, Jerome Powell, never mentioned the oil shock — except, when reporter Edward Lawrence asked a question about it.