Car payments, GoFundMe for groceries, pawn shops: The new recession clues

On paper, the U.S. economy still looks solid. A tech investment boom is boosting the stock market and the headline unemployment rate remains near historic lows . But with the federal government shutdown halting the release of jobs and inflation reports, policymakers and investors have been left without the hard data that normally anchors their view of the economy. In its absence, unofficial signals are gaining ground as alternative recession indicators. These are the everyday measures that often flash re ...