Americans' inflation fears reach another high as consumer prices surge

Americans' inflation fears reached a fever pitch in June, rising to the highest level since June 2013 as the price of consumer goods continued to surge, according to a Federal Reserve Bank of New York survey published Monday.

The median expectation is that the inflation rate will be up 4.8% one year from now, a new high for the gauge, and up 3.6% three years from now, the highest level since August 2013, according to the New York Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Expectations. 

Americans also expect the prices of homes to keep rising, with one-year expectations unchanged at 6.2% in June – substantially higher than the previous one-year average of 3.7%. Still, consumers said they expect the price of things like food and gasoline to fall slightly, while expectations for college tuition reached 7% – the highest reading since April 2019.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has mostly downplayed the rising prices for goods and services, blaming the increase on widespread bottlenecks that have severely disrupted the supply chain and a wave of pent-up demand among consumers who are flush with cash. Though he's said inflation could turn out to be "higher and more persistent than we expect," Powell has maintained that it's likely transitory.