Maybe the "shock" that we've been in a recession for a year wore off a little today...

After almost a full year, it became official Monday that the U.S. economy has been in a recession since December 2007.

I'm not even going to ask why it took almost a year for the National Bureau of Economic Research to decide that sober fact, but I think the rest of us "sensed" that was the case anyway. Firms have cut 1.2 million jobs in 2008.

Here's what's interesting though...

If in fact, we HAVE been in a recession since 12/07, then it's ALREADY lasted longer than most postwar downturns. There have only been three longer ones: the longest was during the Great Depression (August 1929 - March 1933), followed by November 1973 - March 1975 and July 1981 - November 1982 (16 months each).

So if the current recession has already lasted 12 months, just a few more months and we've tied some of the longest downturns in our economic history! Food for thought, and perhaps more ammunition for the market having bottomed out already. Remember, the market looks ahead 6 - 9 months.

But I guess the "formal announcement" spooked the market yesterday, and was the main reason (other than the usual dismal economic reports) causing the market to tank. But today was a different story, with the Dow up a tidy 270 points and the Nasdaq up almost 52.

Both charts of the Dow and the Nas show nice Bullish Harami patterns. That usually indicates the end of the pullback, but in this market, who knows.

All in all, I'd say it was a nice "Turnaround Tuesday."