leading indicators

Sure, you could make your investment decisions based on boring methods like research and analysis. Or you could take a more exciting approach: Leading Asian brokerage CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets has released its "feng shui index" for year of the black water dragon.

While not everyone whose marriage ends rushes out to break ground on a new home, some real estate agents say divorcing spouses make up at least a third of their clients. With the economy impacting divorce trends and marital splits pushing spending trends, should economists be watching divorce rates when they chart the economic outlook?

Factory orders rose just 0.1% in July, the U.S. Commerce Department announced Thursday in a report that further clarified that the manufacturing sector's expansion slowed down this summer. While the statistic did indicate tepid growth, it was less than the 0.3% gain economists had predicted.

An economic indicator with a perfect 40-year history of predicting recessions just signaled that a double-dip is coming for sure: On Friday, the Economic Cycle Research Institute's Weekly Leading Index growth rate broke below -10%.

A chart of leading economic indicators produced by the well-respected Economic Cycle Research Institute indicates that economic growth is slowing dramatically in the U.S. Is a second round of recession looming?