I'd like to think that, too, Tom. But:

The increase was driven entirely by the energy/fuel segment, upon which the other segments depend to get their goods to market. Even if production and refining capacities return to pre-hurricane normals, don't forget that fuel prices were already rising. It's the "pig in the python" analogy: this spike will take more than a month to work its way through the entire economy.

And it has other ramifications, too. People who once were comfortably above the poverty line are now talking about what they'll have to stop buying, because of the increased cost of fuel to heat their homes and commute to work... and there are many more who were just barely making it before gas prices went up. That does not bode well for the retail sector. Fewer customers result in lower staff needs, causing more layoffs, which are always done from the bottom of the payroll. In an "industry" notorious for low pay, most of those folks are already seeing the effective poverty line (as opposed to the annually-established, government-sanctioned one) rise all around them like the waters in the Lower 9th Ward of NOLA ... due almost entirely to fuel costs.

And then there are the 438,000 additional unemployment claims caused directly by the two hurricanes. It looks like a spike now, but how many months will it take before they resume their former employment, or find work in other areas that are strained in the manner described in my previous paragraph?