Oil prices set another 2023 high this week as concerns about a tightening market pushed the Brent benchmark crude close to $100 a barrel, complicating the Federal Reserve’s effort to bring down inflation ahead of the September policy meeting and raising fears that a U.S. recession might be still on the horizon.
History shows that surging energy costs usually play a role in tipping the U.S. into recession. When oil prices doubled in September 1990, February 2000, and June 2008, the economy was either in a recession or would…