The Conference Board released their Leading Economic Index (LEI) for January showing that it fell 0.3%, following a 0.8% decline in December. This report is a composite of economic indexes and can signal peaks and troughs in the business cycle.

What’s the bottom line? The LEI 6-month growth rate on an annualized basis was -7.4%. The Conference Board explained that when this number breaks beneath 0%, it is a warning signal, while a break beneath -4% is a recession signal that has been highly accurate historically. The Conference Board also stated that they believe the U.S. will enter a recession this year.