Genuine question: At what point do we actually declare that we are in recession. Do we wait for GDP figures out these signs are enough to assume we are in bear markets now.
The NBER defines a recession as a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real GDP, real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/recession.asp
But recession is a macroeconomic term that may not reflect the actual impact on consumers -- conusumers could be suffering through an economic downturn that's not technically a "recession".
Last quarter was -1.4% growth, so probably not growing strongly (but who knows, maybe just a blip...)
https://www.wsj.com/articles/us-economy-gdp-growth-q1-116511...
A more pessimistic view gives +1% for Q2: https://www.atlantafed.org/-/media/documents/cqer/researchcq...
This is typically an accurate measure.
By the way the official declaration by the U.S. bureaucracies of the onset of a recession typically lags the actual onset by a year or so.