Households’ expectations of the near-term future path of inflation surged back to record levels in February, amid growing worries that it will become harder to borrow money over coming months, according to a report Monday from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
The bank said that respondents to its monthly survey see inflation hitting 6% a year from now, up from 5.8% in January. That matches the reading seen in November of last year and is the highest reading in a poll that dates back to 2013. “The increase was widespread across age, education, and income groups, but largest for the respondents without a high-school diploma,” the bank said.
