WSJ reports: Americans expect prices to rise by a median of 3.4% a year during the next five to 10 years, the highest expectation since 1995, according to the latest Reuters/University of Michigan consumer-sentiment survey, released Friday. The number was 2.9% as recently as March.
More worrisome, consumers, on average, expect prices to increase 5.2% in the next 12 months, the highest level for an expected rise since 1982. Meanwhile, the gap in yields is widening between Treasury bonds that are indexed to inflation and those that aren’t, suggesting investors also think prices will keep climbing.