American households’ view on Donald Trump’s economy deteriorated “sharply” in September, Tuesday’s update on consumer confidence in the US showed.

The headline print on the Conference Board’s measure was 94.2, a miss to consensus, down almost four points from August and the worst reading since “Liberation Day.” It was the second consecutive monthly decline.

The drop was attributable mostly to an outsized swoon on the present situation index, which fell the most in a year.

The expectations index didn’t decline as much, but it did slip. At 73.4, it remains well south of the border, which is to say below the 80 line that’s typically associated with recessions over the ensuing 12 months.

Disconcertingly, the labor differential fell again, as the share describing jobs as “plentiful” dropped more than three points from August to 26.9% while the share describing jobs as “hard to get” was unchanged at 19.1%.

“Consumers’ assessment of business conditions was much less positive than in recent months, while their appraisal of current job availability fell for the ninth straight month to reach a new multi-year low,” Conference Board senior economist Stephanie Guichard said.

The Conference Board headline’s down eight of 10 months since Trump’s election. Notably, four of the headline prints since November were lower than the worst readout from the Biden years (in July of 2022, when headline inflation was running 9%).

So, Donald Trump now owns the four worst consumer confidence readings since — wait for it, waaaiiit for it — Donald Trump was president.

Gilded age, maybe. “Golden age,” not so much.