sentiment among us consumers remained weak in july as high prices continued to erode americans purchasing power even as longterm inflation expectations retreated the final estimate of the consumer sentiment index published friday by the university of michigan increased to 515 in july from 500 in june the indicator came in slightly above the midmonth preliminary reading of 511 and broadly matched expectations from economists polled by the wall street journal despite the slight increase registered in july the indicator is near its lowest level ever recorded in the surveys history the oneyear outlook for the us economy fell to its lowest reading since 2009 while at the same time concerns over global factors have eased somewhat said joanne hsu the surveys director this easing provided some limited support to buying conditions for durables which remained near the alltime low reached last month as well as a modest retreat in long run inflation expectations she said american consumers see prices increasing 52 in the next year compared with the 53 advance expected in june inflation expectations for the next five years a closely watched indicator for federal reserves officials declined to 29 from the 31 registered in june inflation continued to dominate consumers attention and labor market expectations continued to soften ms hsu said the index measuring americans assessment of the current economic conditions rose to 581 in july from 538 in june up from the preliminary earlymonth reading of 571 however shortterm expectations remained subdued the index of consumer expectations which reflects the balance of respondents anticipating improved business conditions in the next six months decreased marginally to 473 from 475 the previous month the preliminary estimate was 473