Monday, the National Bureau of Economic Research [NBER] said its Business Cycle Dating Committee determined that the U.S. entered recession in December 2007.

WOW! We've been saying we are in a recession for the last ten months or so. Are we really that smart, or just not in denial, or what?!

Typically, by the time these guys announce that the U.S. has been in a recession, the market has already bounced off of its lows by 15% - 25%. But this market has been anything but typical. However, the announcement that we now recognize we've been in a recession for a year is actually more encouraging to me that we are closer to a bottom.

We enter September beginning a new chapter for the U.S. dollar. The U.S. dollar just recorded its best monthly advance since October 1992 largely because sentiment on the U.S economy improved when data showed the U.S. should have much more stable growth than the rest of the world. 

A Commerce Department report showed inflation rising at 4.5% in July -- the highest rate since February 1991. The revision of the 2nd quarter gross domestic product [GDP] grew at a whopping 3.3% from the initial estimate of 1.9%, helping the U.S. dollar maintain the strength of its recent rally.

Take a look at Victoria Bay Asset Management's United States Oil Fund (AMEX: USO).

This famous ETF's benchmark is the spot price of West Texas Intermediate light, sweet crude oil delivered to Cushing, Okla., minus expenses. (I can actually hear some of you who've traded this one vomiting right now.)