Everyone is looking for a clue about when the economy will turn around, and some people are looking in odd places. Bloomberg columnist Matthew Lynn finds an analyst who believes in the predictive power of prostitution pricing in Latvia, while MSN’s Michael Brush examines an old Alan Greenspan favorite, the underwear indicator.

Unfortunately, both indicators are pointing in the same direction — down. The falling price of sex workers in Latvia can be seen as a signal of continued deflation and recession in the Baltic states. And American men, apparently, are willing to wear tattered underwear these days rather than spend money on new boxers and briefs.

After a 12-month, 12% decline through the end of January, men’s underpants sales leveled off during February and March, according to NPD. That suggests the economic was stabilizing, (analyst Marshal) Cohen says.

For a recovery, we’d need to see a return to 2% to 3% annual growth in underwear sales. And that’s not in the cards, believes Bill Patterson, an analyst at consumer research company Mintel. Based on market research and surveys, Mintel predicts a 2.3% decline this year in men’s underwear sales and no recovery until 2013.

That’s four more years of saggy elastic and threadbare cotton.