"The bottom line is we are in a tepid recovery."
Forrest also saw a reason for concern when she took part in a dog show in western Pennsylvania last month and found that the number of entrants has been slipping.
"This really told me that things were not okay."
She believes regional shows she attends across the country are a better gauge than nationwide data which have held steady, but are skewed by big, high-profile events attended by professional breeders.
It's not all gloom, though.
Weddings And Malls
Bill Smead, chief investment officer of Seattle-based Smead Capital Management, for example, was encouraged by the frequency of Southwest Airlines TV ads promoting low fares for the upcoming wedding season.
"Weddings are usually followed by buying houses, having babies and buying cars that fit car seats," he says. "That is the driver of the U.S. economy."
Smead acknowledges that it could take years before the newlyweds decide to have offspring, but says his investment philosophy is about being patient, sometimes contrarian, and looking years ahead, often with the help of non-standard indicators.
Peter Kenny, chief market strategist at New York-based trading firm Clearpool Group, also sees positive signs emerging from his research.