from Tyler Durden at Zero Hedge blog:
It's getting close: the fabled -10% annualized change (see David  Rosenberg) which guarantees a recession is now just 3.1% away, which at  this rate of collapse will be breached in two weeks. The ECRI is  now at December 2007 levels, the time when the  last recession officially started. The index dropped from  an annualized revised -5.8% (previously -5.7%) to -6.9%. As a reminder,  from Rosie, "It is one thing to slip to or fractionally below the zero  line, but a -3.5% reading has only sent off two head-fakes in the past,  while accurately foreshadowing seven recessions — with a three month  lag. Keep your eye on the -10 threshold, for at that level, the  economy has gone into recession … only 100% of the time (42 years of  data)." We are practically there.