The SuperIndexes are rate-of-change oscillators (representing economic growth) and make their respective recession calls whenever they dip below zero on the Recession/Expansion Dating Line. Once they dip below this critical threshold, recession probabilities mount exponentially. Each SuperIndex had zero false positives in the seven recessions since 1968 and captured (correctly flagged) 97% or more of NBER recession months, with AUC accuracy of 97% or more. There is no doubt that strain in the economy has resulted in a rise in recession probability since August 2011 and clearly the three SuperIndexes are on a worrying downward trend, but no more concerning than those trends displayed in March 2003, Sept 2005 and July 2006, none of which led to NBER-dated recession.

So while we are by no means “out the woods,” it is premature to issue a death certificate at this stage. Make no mistake – all it takes is three to four months of concerted and persistent downward pressure on the bulk of the nine components of the SuperIndex and we would quickly be in recession territory.  If you examine past recession SuperIndex signatures, none were a slow decent into recession – but a rapid decline downwards with recession probabilities skyrocketing. But until that steep descent occurs, wait before prescribing time-to-live for a terminally ill patient.

It is also illuminating to examine this current expansion in the context of prior expansions, as shown by the graphics from our SuperIndex Recession Report. The first chart depicts the current growth progress in relation to x-months before or after the NBER cycle business trough. Plots to the left of the vertical red line are months before the business cycle trough (representing contraction) and those to the right represent expansion following the trough. We depict the all-time high, the all-time low and the average of prior expansions for each month before and after the business cycle trough so we can compare the current expansion in relation to past ones.  We see the current expansion got off to an average growth rate start for the first five months, then geared up to above-average growth rate for the following six months.  It has registered below average growth rate for the last 19 months, in fact hugging the lowest growth rate of all prior expansions presently.

The second chart represents growth rate summation to give an idea of cumulative expansion progress versus prior cumulative expansion progress. The legend refers to start dates of prior recessions. This is of course a concern, hinting at the vulnerability of the current expansion to external shocks.  Clearly it would have been much nicer to see an above-average expansion underway together with the current SuperIndex levels. So while the current SuperIndex levels themselves are not a cause for immediate recessionary concern, the US economy is surely more vulnerable at this point than prior expansions – which tempers our view.

One other signal we like to observe when assessing if we are in a recessionary environment is the SuperIndex DIFFUSION – how many of the nine components of the SuperIndex themselves are in their respective recessionary territories (based upon optimal individual recessionary models). Right now, only the ECRI WLI and the e-forecasting.com eLEI are in recessionary territory. As you can see from the historical chart below, once can only safely proclaim recession or not depending on whether the diffusion is above or below three (one false positive historically) or four (zero false positives historically). Two recession calls does not a recession make. Granted, the recession calls of the diffusion offer more of a co-incident view but at least for now we know we need two more systems to dive into recession territory before we can make any proclamations.

While it is interesting to observe in the above chart that only two of the nine components are currently flagging recession, it is also prudent to observe the probability state of those systems not yet flagging recession as shown below. These are maximum-likelihood single-factor logit statistical models built from the unmodified underlying time-series, and configured with “golden triggers” that are thresholds above which the respective probabilities must rise or fall to initiate a recession call/end for the series being studied. These triggers are optimized to give the individual probability model the best-fit to historical NBER dates from a false positive, area under curve fit, lead/lag etc. perspective. As you can see, all the other systems are way below their respective recession call triggers.

Click on image to see larger view.

From an actionable point of view, investors should focus on the “long leading” five-month SuperIndex. This recession signal has presaged an average 28% drop in the US stock markets in six of seven occasions. The two-month, co-incident and diffusion indexes are more useful when it comes to confirming real-time presence of a recession or not. They are also our “safety nets” should the long-leading SuperIndex prove suboptimal in recession lead-dating. The long-term history of the five-month SuperIndex (providing on average a five-month lead to NBER recession) is displayed below. We are certainly “vulnerable” to recession at current levels but it is by no means a “done deal” on the four to six month horizon.

Dwaine van Vuuren is CEO of PowerStocks Investment Research, a South African-based provider of investment research.  If you would like to receive the next 4 weeks SuperIndex Recession Reports for free, just email us at with FREE SUPERINDEX in the subject line.

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