The economy

Allison Morrow, CNN

• Consumers who powered the country through the worst of the Covid-19 recession are crying uncle. Retail sales last month were much weaker than expected. And sentiment is the lowest it’s been since 2022, when annual inflation climbed above 9% and the S&P 500 tumbled more than 19%.
• Home construction is way down.
• One closely watched real-time forecast shows the economy contracting 2.4% this quarter.
• Amid all of that, financial markets are freaking out because of the White House’s ever-shifting tariff policies, which threaten to take a sledgehammer to the economy. CNN’s Fear and Greed Index shows Wall Street is being driven by “extreme fear.”
• In sum: The solid economy that President Donald Trump inherited is beginning to buckle under the weight of his tariff agenda, which has left businesses, consumers and investors paralyzed by uncertainty.  Read more.