Summary Box: More bad news for the economy has people talking recession again

Summary Box: Home sales, goods orders both sink

RECESSION FEARS: Fears of another recession are growing. Businesses are ordering fewer goods, and home sales are the weakest in decades.

GOODS ORDERS DOWN: Without the volatile transportation category, orders for durable goods fell at the steepest rate since January. And business investment took its sharpest drop since the economic dark days of early 2009.

NEW HOME SALES FALL: Sales of new homes fell more than 12 percent in July from a month earlier. The July pace was the slowest in at least 47 years. The past three months have been the worst on record.