'We're sitting on a bubble'

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump predicted that the United States is on course for a "very massive recession," warning that a combination of high unemployment and an overvalued stock market had set the stage for another economic slump.

"I think we're sitting on an economic bubble. A financial bubble," the billionaire businessman said in an interview with The Washington Post published on Saturday.

Coming off a tough week on the campaign trail in which he made a series of missteps, Trump's latest comments bring him back into the limelight ahead of Tuesday's important primary in Wisconsin where he trails in the polls.

The former reality TV star said that the real US jobless figure is much higher than five percent number released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. "We're not at 5 percent unemployment," Trump said.

"We're at a number that's probably into the twenties if you look at the real number," he said, adding that the official jobless figure is "statistically devised to make politicians - and in particular presidents - look good."

Trump said "it's a terrible time right now" to invest in the stock market, reports Reuters.

Talking to The New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, in a column published Saturday, Trump says he regrets retweeting an unflattering picture of the wife of arch-rival Ted Cruz, in a rare act of contrition from the Republican presidential frontrunner.