US consumer confidence edges up in late February, University of Michigan says

US consumer confidence continued to languish near its weakest level in the past decade amid rising inflation, the results of a closely-followed survey revealed.

The University of Michigan's consumer confidence index edged up from a preliminary reading of 61.7 to finish the month of February at 62.8.

That was below January's level of 67.2 but better than economists' forecasts for an unchanged reading.

According to the survey´s director, Richard Curtin, the decrease versus the prior month was entirely due to souring sentiment among households with average annual incomes of $100,000 or more.

He attributed the descent to price pressures, "a near universal" awareness of rising interest rates, falling confidence in the government's economic policies and the "most negative" long-term prospects for the US economy in a decade.

Survey interviews were all conducted before Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Americans' inflation expectations were unchanged on a 12-month view in comparison to January at 4.9%, while five years out they edged lower, from 3.1% to 3.0%.