Americans became slightly more gloomy about the economy this month, following two straight months of growing optimism.

Consumer sentiment tracked by the University of Michigan fell to 71.2 in August from the prior month, down from a reading of 71.6 in July, according to a preliminary estimate. Sentiment had been on an upswing throughout the summer, mostly due to slower inflation, but it's still well above the record lows reached last summer.

Expectations for inflation rates in the year ahead inched down to a 3.3% rate from 3.4% in the last reading.

This story is developing and will be updated.