Pointers to Economy Improving

Home Sales: Keep an eye on the National Association of Home Builders House Market Index. The index is at an all time low at 8. If the index gets back to 20 this year — even if it's only prospective buyer traffic that pushes the index higher.

Jobs: Look for job market to stabilize over a period of two or three months and then begin to inch upward for an early indicator that the economy is recovering. This can be tracked on the BLS web site .

Car Sales: Cars are one of the first big-ticket items that consumers buy when they start to feel good again. When new vehicle sales stabilize — at any level — and then start to tick higher it will provide a solid read on the mood of consumers, who collectively are two-thirds of the economy.

Retail Sales: When that string reverses it will be a positive sign. But more important will be any shift away from discounters like Wal-Mart and Dollar General towards specialty or higher end stores like Nordstrom or Saks. Retail sales can be tracked at www.census.gov.

The Pasta Indicator: Pasta is a cheap meal, and sales are shooting through the roof — rising 22% in 2008 after years of tepid growth. When pasta sales begin to slow you'll know times are getting better. One way to track the trend is by watching financial results at American Italian Pasta Co. (ticker: AIPC), which is North America's largest pasta producer.

The Cardboard Indicator: The idea is simple: liner board is a main component of cardboard, which is used as packaging to ship just about everything. When liner board prices surge it means that packaging is in demand, which can only be the case if people are buying things, which in turn signals a healthy economy. Keep your eye on the stock price of leading cardboard producers Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. (ticker: SSCC) and International Paper (IP).

Box Office: If movie ticket sales increase on a sustained basis, it could mean nothing more than that there have been some blockbuster films released — or just maybe that the economy is getting better. You can check for year-to-date movie ticket sales comparisons at ercboxoffice.com.