Inflation, consumer woe add to worries that recession is already here

The case that a recession is looming over the U.S. got stronger Friday, as blistering inflation and historic lows in consumer sentiment painted an increasingly dark economic picture.

As if the consumer price index increase of 8.6% wasn’t bad enough news, that release was followed later in the morning by the University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment.

That widely followed gauge of optimism registered a paltry 50.2, the lowest in survey data going back to 1978. That’s lower than the depths of the Covid outbreak, lower than the financial crisis, lower even…