I struggle to see how this can be seen as a bellwether of the economy. 3M sells things that should be reasonably recession-proof: people don't stop buying scotch tape in hard times.
Pretty sure scotch tape (or any other consumer product) is a tiny fraction of their business. Their main gig is selling industrial solvents, additives, adhesives & abrasives to mining & manufacturing concerns.
Building up production facilities for others & the engineering involved in all that is a lucrative line as well.
I believe most of 3M's products are industrial abrasives, films, laminates, and adhesives. I suspect they make more money selling layers of film that are part of electronic displays than they do selling scotch tape.
Building up production facilities for others & the engineering involved in all that is a lucrative line as well.
Patent licensing too.