This Trump-backing Indiana city is 'flashing a warning sign' that a recession is coming: Wall Street Journal

Last week's inverted yield curve set off fresh worries about whether the American economy is headed toward a recession, and a new report from the Wall Street Journal is sure to further stoke concerns.

In the report, the WSJ writes that Elkhart, Indiana -- a key industrial city in a district that voted for former President Barack Obama in 2008 and current President Donald Trump in 2016 -- is "flashing a warning sign about the economy."

Elkhart is the manufacturing capital of the United States' recreational vehicle industry, and new data show that shipments of RVs have plummeted by 20 percent this year after a drop off of just over 4 percent last year.

This is significant, WSJ writes, because "the northern Indiana city and the surrounding area are watched by economists and investors for early indications of waning consumer demand for luxury items, often the first sign of economic anxiety." In fact, consecutive year-over-year drops in RV shipments have come just before the last three recessions struck the United States.

"The RV industry is better at calling recessions than economists are,” said Michael Hicks, an economist at Ball State University, tells the WSJ.

Read the entire report here.