U.S. consumer sentiment ticked up slightly in September but remains mired at near decade lows, while worries about inflation drove buying attitudes for household durables to a low reached only once before in 1980, according to a University of Michigan survey. The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index edged up to a reading of 71 in September, a slight uptick from August’s 70.3, which was the lowest level since 2011. “The steep August falloff in consumer sentiment ended in early September, but the small gain still meant that consumers expected the least favorable economic prospects in more than a decade,” Richard Curtin, the survey director, said in a statement. Last month’s 13 percent slide from July to August was one the sharpest in percentage terms in the past 50 years, exceeded only by an 18.1 percent drop in 2008 and a 19.4 percent fall in April 2020, when pandemic-related concerns …