New York —

Two key reports released Thursday showed the US economy may be in a state of early-onset stagflation — a toxic one-two punch of slow economic growth and rising prices.

That’s a particularly problematic combo because slow economic growth should, in normal times, drag prices down, not up. It’s Econ 101: When people are out of work or worried about losing their jobs, they spend less, spurring businesses to lower prices. If people can’t afford things but prices go up anyway, that’s a sign something is deeply broken.

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Consumer prices rose 0.4% in August, driving the annualized inflation rate to 2.9% — the highest since January. That was up from 2.7% in July.

At the same time, first-time applications for unemployment benefits surged last week to their highest level i

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