(New York)

We guarantee that we have a great recession signal in hand that you have not been paying attention to: RV sales. Yes, you read that right, RV (recreation vehicle) sales. Elkhart, Indiana is the epicenter of motorhome production, and their product has proven to be a reliable recession indicator. “The RV industry is better at calling recessions than economists are”, says one economics professor at Ball State University. The big worry is that shipments of RVs are down 20% this year, a big drop.

FINSUM: This seems like a classic consumer discretionary spending leading indicator. And it is not looking good right now.