I have long told my wife that one of the tell-tale signs that the economy was truly “close” to a recession would be when the home improvement stores started making far less money.

Lowe’s Cos., the nation’s second biggest home improvement retailer, reported a 17.9 percent drop in first-quarter earnings and lowered its guidance for the year on Monday as the slumping U.S. housing market and softer economy hurt sales. Its shares fell more than 2.5 percent in morning trading.

Lowe’s said it earned $607 million, or 41 cents per share, in the three months ended May 2. That is down from $739 million, or 48 per share, in the first quarter of 2007.

Now granted, they didn’t actually “lose” any money, they just didn’t make as much as they have in the past. I don’t think it will last though. We’re just getting into the season where most people do any remodeling and such. You’ll see.

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