Navistar International Corp

By now, you know I'm absolutely crazy about data. I've got tons of it – years of price records on the best stocks on the S&P 500… years of earnings data… proven, backtested patterns, and a lot more.

All that data is one of the reasons why we do so well with our trading.

News networks like data, too, but they don't have the same variety and depth of data I've got at my fingertips. Nowadays, they're focused exclusively on every upcoming jobs and GDP report they can get their hands on. 

Here's the thing – by themselves, those reports aren't worth paying much attention too, let alone basing your trading decisions on them.

But in the right context, these data can confirm or predict trends. Last week, for instance, I mentioned that quarterly earnings could point the way to a recession by March 2017.

Today I have to tell you that that recession is looming even larger on the horizon, so we'll want to alter our trading accordingly.

You see, I'm looking at another piece of data, an indicator, used by some of the most successful traders in the business, to see exactly how the economy is doing in real time.

This is incredibly accurate, and you don't have to have special access to anything to take a read on this powerful indicator, either.