Is the US headed into a recession under Trump?

During his election campaign last year, Donald Trump promised Americans he would usher in a new era of prosperity.

Now two months into his presidency, he's painting a slightly different picture.

He has warned that it will be hard to bring down prices and the public should be prepared for a "little disturbance" before he can bring back wealth to the US.

Meanwhile, even as the latest figures indicate inflation is easing, analysts say the odds of a downturn are increasing, pointing to his policies.

So is Trump about to trigger a recession in the world's largest economy?

Markets fall and recession risks rise In the US, a recession is defined as a prolonged and widespread decline in economic activity typically characterised by a jump in unemployment and fall in incomes.

A chorus of economic analysts have warned in recent days that the risks of such a scenario are rising.

A JP Morgan report put the chance of recession at 40%, up from 30% at the start of the year, warning that US policy was "tilting away from growth", while Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, upped the odds from 15% to 35%, citing tariffs.

The forecasts came as the S&P 500, which tracks 500 of the biggest companies in the US sank sharply. It has now fallen to its lowest level since September in a sign of fears about the future.