March 12 Reuters A second straight month of strongerthanexpected inflation has effectively shut the door on the possibility of a Federal Reserve interestrate cut before June, with some traders and analysts betting central bankers may need to wait even longer.

Gasoline and shelter prices drove the February consumer price index up 3.2 versus a year earlier, an acceleration from January39;s 3.1 increase. Underlying core inflation, excluding gas and food prices, slowed less than economists had forecast, and on a threemonth and sixmonth basis actually gained traction.

Fed policymakers are meeting next week and are universally expected to leave the policy rate in its current 5.255.5 range, where it has been since last July.

Until recently there had been some speculation that a rate cut could still come at their following meeting on April 30May 1 if inflation, which fell rapidly last year and then jumped in January, resumes its path toward the Fed39;s 2 goal.

But Tuesday39;s inflation report is an ugly read that will do nothing to sooth nerves at the Fed, wrote BMO economist Scott Anderson. Clearly, restrictive monetary policy has not yet fully done its work and a patient and slightly hawkish Fed must remain in place for the monetary medicine to fully take effect.

Core services inflation excluding rents, a measure to which Fed Chair Jerome Powell has said he pays close attention, rose 0.5 in February from a month earlier, and over the past three month is up on an annualized…