U.S. small business confidence fell to the lowest in over a year in February in the face of a wave of inflation that is forcing a record percentage of establishments to raise prices and denting their outlook for the economy, a survey showed on Tuesday. The National Federation of Independent Business said its Small Business Optimism Index dropped 1.4 points to 95.7 last month from 97.1 in January. It was the lowest reading since January 2021. More than a quarter of businesses cited inflation as their largest problem, the highest since 1981, while a record 68 percent said they were pushing through price increases of their own. But higher prices weren’t feeding through to bottom-line profit improvements in many cases, with a larger share of businesses reporting weaker earnings and more than 60 percent complaining of lost sales opportunities. “Inflation continues to be a problem on Main Street, leading more …