Inflation is heating up, a trade war is brewing and American consumers aren’t feeling great about the economy. That’s a toxic mix for businesses.

U.S. consumer confidence plummeted in February, the biggest monthly decline in more than four years, a business research group said Tuesday.

U.S. consumer confidence plummeted in February, the biggest monthly decline in more than four years, a business research group said Tuesday.

The Conference Board reported that its consumer confidence index sank this month to 98.3 from 105.3 in January. That’s far below the expectations of economists, who projected a reading of 103, according to a survey by FactSet.

The president’s latest tariffs also sent financial markets into a tailspin Tuesday as the U.S. faced the threat of rekindled inflation and paralyzing uncertainty.

U.S. consumer confidence plummeted in February, the biggest monthly decline in more than four years, a business research group said Tuesday, with inflation seemingly stuck and a trade war under President Donald Trump seen by a growing number of Americans as inevitable.

The tariff actions, which could upend nearly $2.2 trillion in two-way annual U.S. trade, went live hours after Trump declared that all three countries had failed to do enough to stem the flow of the deadly fentanyl opioid.

President Donald Trump ‘s commerce secretary conceded on Fox News that people will have to dig deeper into their wallets because of the president’s trade war. But don’t call it inflation. It’s just paying more, that’s all.

Dutch food exports to the United States could be drastically reduced if former U.S. President Donald Trump follows through on his plan to impose a 25 percent import tariff on European goods. An analysis released by ABN AMRO on Thursday warns that this proposal could cut Dutch food exports to the U.

It’s too soon to declare that the battle to contain inflation in Australia is over and a cautious approach to interest rate cuts is still needed, the deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia,

The European Central Bank is cutting interest rates by a quarter percentage point, lowering credit costs for consumers and businesses to support an economy that is struggling to show solid growth.