Economists share where they look for clues that a U.S. recession could be coming

Former Richmond Federal Reserve Bank President Al Broadus used to tell reporters that his favorite way of gauging the health of the U.S. economy was looking at the traffic on a railroad line that he crossed twice a day on his way to the office and back.

Plenty of boxcars meant times were good. A dearth of traffic signaled leaner times. For his part, former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan often talked about resting in his bathtub and reading reports on the price of scrap steel, which he saw as a good indicator of the level of activity in the economy.



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