U.S. consumer confidence dipped slightly in January amid growing worries about a revival of price pressures, with near-term inflation expectations seeing a significant jump and long-run expectations surging to their highest level in over 16 years.
Confidence among American consumers fell by a modest 0.8 points from December to a reading of 73.2 in January, according to the closely watched University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment survey, released on Jan. 10.
Tempering the extent of the slide in sentiment was a 5-percent increase in assessments of current personal finances. However, evaluations of the economic outlook fell 7 percent in the short-run and 5 percent in the long-run. This, combined with a jump in inflation expectations, contributed to the overall decline….