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Comments for the Week B eginning March 15, 2010
Written by Raymond Merriman   

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    Mars ended its 80-day retrograde period last Wednesday and most equity markets of the world continued their month long rally into this event. But in typical retrograde-ending fashion, not all markets made new yearly highs.

    In Europe, the London FTSE and Swiss SMI did make new yearly highs last week. The FTSE rallied to 5646, well above its previous high of 5600 on January 11, nearby to when Saturn turned retrograde. The SMI of Switzerland continued as one of the world’s strongest performers this year, soaring to 6891 exactly on march 10 when Mars turned direct, eclipsing its prior yearly high of 6666 recorded on January 11 and 21. But Germany’s DAX and Netherlands AEX fell short of the Saturn retrograde highs. The DAX only rallied to 5989 last week, well below the 6094 level of January 11. The AEX came closer, reaching 342 last week, just three points below its yearly high of 345 back on January 11. The Russian MICEX index also fell well short of its yearly high of 1491 achieved on January 20. Last week’s high was only 1423, and that was also achieved on March 10 when mars turned. Thus Europe is exhibiting a case of bearish intermarket divergence as we are in the midst of this huge time band of numerous geocosmic signatures extending from February 28 through March 25, with the greatest cluster March 9-21.

    In Asia and the Pacific Rim, more cases of intermarket bearish divergence were in evidence. In fact, none of the indices we track made new yearly highs. Australia’s All ordinaries rallied to 4850 on March 11, still well below its high of 4984 on January 11. The Hang Seng of Hong Kong only revered to 21,333, well below its yearly high of 23,099  way back on November 18, when the first Saturn-Pluto square unfolded. India’s Nifty rallied back to 5158 last week, but that is still well off the yearly high of 5310 on January 6.The Japanese Nikkei was perhaps the best performer last week in this region. It soared to 10,777 on Friday, and is now only 200 points off its yearly high of 10,982 recorded back on January 15.

    The strongest equity markets, next to Switzerland and Japan, were in the Americas. The NASDAQ Composite soared to 2376, a new yearly high on Friday. This was well above the prior yearly high of 2326 on January 11. But it was the only market to make a new yearly high last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose to 10,645 on Friday, but that is still well off its yearly high of 10,729 registered on January 19. Both the Bovespa and Merval indices of Brazil and Argentina rallied last week, but remain below their lows of January too.

Yet even though there were many markets that failed to make new yearly highs, the fact is that they closed the week rather strong. Technically they all look poised to make new highs. But then again, Mars is changing directions as this rally unfolds, and they are a slew of other important geocosmic signatures taking place right now. And besides all that, it’s St. Patrick’s Day next week. It will be of interest to see how traders perform on that day. Perhaps brewery stocks will do quite well.

Short-Term Geocosmics


    Last week was also significant because Venus ended its translation to the Saturn-Uranus-Pluto T-square on Thursday (March 3-11). It was bullish time, which suggests that this developing T-square may indeed coincide with a great rally before a reversal. We will get another clue this week, because now the Sun will make the same translation with first a conjunction to Uranus on St. Patrick’s Day (March 17), followed by an opposition to Saturn on March 21, and finally the square to Pluto on March 25. If that too coincides with rising equity prices, then I think it is quite possible this bull market could soar another 20+% by August.

    But in the study of Financial Astrology, we look at these clusters as probable market reversals. The conjunction of Sun and Uranus on March 17 is especially potent in many financial markets. According to the studies published in “The Ultimate Book on Stock Market Timing, Volume 3: Geocosmic Correlations to trading Cycles,” this is a Level One (strongest) signature with an 83% correlation to primary or greater cycles within 14 trading days. Since we are rising into it, one might anticipate a primary cycle crest. On the political front, this time band (March 17-25) could be a rough period for many leaders – especially Leos, since the Sun rules Leo. If you are a Leo and if you are experiencing heavy opposition to your position, don’t be surprised. Your enemies will be in full view now and so will your leadership style. People don’t see things as you do, and conflicts are bound to arise if you and/or they don’t understand and accept these differences in a civil manner. It could get ugly if you or they go on the offensive. There are no winners when the views of either are forced onto the situation.

Longer-Term Thoughts


    We continue to approach the heart of the Cardinal Climax. Astrologically it peaks in late July, early August, but its force should be in evidence even now. For those who have been absent this discussion of the past 15 years, this is a very rare and powerful configuration involving a T-square between five of the outermost planets in the solar system, all on the first degrees of cardinal signs. This configuration started brewing in January 2008 when Pluto (along with Venus) entered Capricorn, a dynamic that will be in effect until 2024. By itself, it promises to transform government all around the world, with a special bent to expose corruption and make those who have acted unethically account – and pay – for their violations against humanity. This is not a good time to be a dictator who abuses his/her population, or a crook who orchestrates his/her own financial gain at the expense (loss) of the common man. And losses there will likely be during this period – huge losses, both financially and in terms of human lives.

    The second passage of a major planet into cardinal signs took place on October 29, 2009, when Saturn moved into Libra. It will be off and in Libra this year, but not fully passed the sign of the balances until October 2012. There is hope with Saturn in Li9bra because it is exalted there. It may even appear that the crack in the world financial structure is mending during much of this time. They may appear a concerted effort by world leaders to patch up the problems, and even move more towards a world peace. Political leaders will tend to move more and more towards the center, but in the process, alienate both the far right and far left.

    The third step will be Uranus starting its 7-yeat trek through Aries on May 27. This development poses a major challenge to world leaders, for Uranus is weapons and technology advancement, but for purposes perhaps of war (Aries). The concern is that terrorists could gain possession of weapons of mass destruction, or the ability to initiate a cyber terrorist attack on the world. On the positive side, it may also be a time of tremendous innovation, and the ability to gain enlightenment to actually solve the problems that thwart humankind’s advancement today.

These three planets – Saturn, Uranus, and Pluto – are the major players in this cardinal climax and cardinal T-square. The last time anything like this unfolded was 1930-1931. But what makes this time even more powerful than 1930-31 is the Jupiter also enters Aries with Uranus on June 6. And Mars will follow by moving into Libra with Saturn on July 29. This has the potential to correlate with excessive speculation and huge price movements. It will be most interesting to see if Saturn in Libra can keep things under control, as it usually does. Will prices remain range bound, without any big price increases, as the Saturn-Libra dynamic would suggest? Or will Jupiter and Uranus in opposition blow that “control” dynamic to smithereens? The answer probably lies in how world leaders proceed with solving the debt crisis, which is the domain of Pluto in Capricorn, right in the middle of all this T-square. Until something is done to cap the world debt situation, we have a simple formula to follow: Increased spending and debt + low interest rates = excessive speculation and asset bubbles.

We will be discussing this at great length in the weeks ahead, for as the middle of this summer comes closer and closer, so do tremendous trading opportunities. Of course with that  also comes tremendous risks, especially to savers, who I think are about to be decimated if they are seduced into moving their money from savings, which yield less than 1% return, into financial assets which have already nearly doubled in price since late 2008 and early 2009. But savers aren’t skilled speculators, and this is year for speculators. Speculators will eat the savers up and spit them out with nothing left, except perhaps a leader who will force the speculators to give it all back or pay a bigger price related to Pluto in Capricorn – the end of free markets as we know it today, and even more government regulation, with huge fines and heavy penalties.
 

Announcements

Announcements

Due to the forthcoming Course 2 of MMA’s Market Timing Academy (MMTA) on June 15, and the vast amount of preparation needed to conduct this training, these free weekly columns of the next 3-4 weeks will be shorter than usual. I will need all the time I can muster in order to complete these preparations. Needless to say, I am very excited about the next course, which will instruct students and apprentices on the correlation of long-term geocosmic cycles to long-term financial market cycles, with an emphasis on stock indices, Gold, and Silver, but with material also related to Grains and Treasuries.

More of the research papers by students of MMTA from Course 1 (Cycles and Patterns in Financial Markets) will be posted on MMTA’s website this week at www.merrimanmta.com,  under “Student Research.” I think you will be as impressed as I am of the quality of work these students are performing already.

The next MMTA course will take place June 15-17, 2013 at the Michigan Education Center (MEC) in Troy, Michigan. Once again, it will be available as a webinar to those who wish to attend but cannot be there physically. This course is titled “Geocosmic Correlation to Investment Cycles in Financial Markets.” It will examine the correlation of Pluto, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, and the Moon’s North Nodes to long-term trends and their cycle troughs and crests in many financial markets, including stock indices and precious metals, going back over 200 years. The cost of this webinar (for non-MMTA students and apprentices) is $2750. For further information and/or registration, please go to http://www.merrimanmta.com/course_two.shtml, or call MMA at 1-248-626-3034. Registration for this course will end June 12.

If you are an active short-term trader, or even if you are an investor who likes to keep up with our current thoughts on financial markets, you may be interested in our Weekly or even Daily Market reports with position trading and aggressive trading recommendations. It is the only way I keep in touch with traders on a daily or even weekly basis. These weekly reports give in-depth analysis of the DJIA, S&P and NASDAQ futures, Euro currency (cash and futures), Dollar/Yen cash and Yen futures, Euro-Yen cash, T-Notes, Crude Oil, Soybeans, Gold and Silver. The daily reports cover all stock indices listed above, as well as futures in Euro, T-Notes, Gold and Silver, plus GLD and SLV (the Gold and Silver ETF’s). Both reports provide trading strategies and recommendations for position traders as well as for shorter-term aggressive traders. Subscription to the daily report also includes the weekly report. For more information, go to http://www.mmacycles.com/services, or call our offices at 1-248-626-3034. These reports are extremely valuable to those who trade ETF’s (Exchange Traded Funds). In the words of one of our subscribers: “I am really pleased with your recommendations through the Daily and Weekly Trade Recommendations.  I have used them to trade gold and silver stocks in my IRA.  In the last eight years, I increased my account from $60,000 to $850,000.  Thanks for your excellent publications.” - Bryden C., Small Business Owner, Illinois.

The monthly MMA Cycles Report and its companions – the MMA Japan Cycles Report and MMA European Cycles Report – came out last week. If you are a subscriber and did not receive your report, contact us immediately. This report covers our longer-term analysis of the U.S. stock market, precious metals, crude oil, currencies, Treasury Notes, and grain markets. The MMA Japan Cycles report covers the Nikkei, JGB Bonds, and the Dollar-Yen. The new MMA European Cycles Report covers the German DAX, Swiss SMI, and Netherlands AEX, each in English only, and will be available on Wednesday. For further information and subscription, go to http://www.mmacycles.com/catalogue/subscription-services/mma-cycles-report/.

If you are interested in a review of Course 1 of MMTA that took place April 6-8, please visit http://www.mmacycles.com/the-news/about-mma/a-review-of-the-mmta-course-1--by-henry-canciglia/. Or go to the www.mmacycles.com website and scroll down the first page. Henry Canciglia has an extensive background in the U.S. political and intelligence community. He is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, West Point. Henry is one of the 15 apprentices for the two-year MMTA course.

The April 6-8 webinar and live presentation on “Cycles and Chart Patterns in Financial Markets” has been completed. The DVD of this extraordinary event will be available in about one-two weeks. The LMS (Learning Management System) will also be available for uploading to new students who want to avail themselves of this training over the next two years. The LMS is expected to be available in about 5 weeks. You may now pre-order the DVD at http://www.mmacycles.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=421&Itemid=61. If you wish to place your order directly, please call Maureen Hogan or Amber Lundsten at 1-248-626-3034, or email to mhogan@merrimanmta.com. The cost of the DVD or the LMS will be $3000. It includes the very valuable 130+-page workbook, which follows right along with the DVD and LMS program.

Following the last MMTA workshop in April, MMA entered into an official affiliation with MetaStock. As most of our subscribers know, MetaStock has been my preferred market analysis tool for several years now, along with FAR for the Galactic Trader (they work together nicely).  I particularly appreciate the crispness of their graphics, excellent scanning capabilities, and wide range of technical indicators that I use in the analysis of our various reports. As part of our affiliation, MetaStock is offering special discount and free trial to all MMA readers and subscribers. If you would like to try a free trial of Metastock in order to view and evaluate their charting software, please go to www.metastock.com/merriman. Let us know what you think.

The DVD of the MMTA pre-training workshop on “How to Read an Ephemeris” is also now available! The cost of the 8-set, 10+ hour DVD packet, is $395.00 plus postage, and will include the workbook. If you are a trader, analyst, or student interested in enhancing your skills in market timing, or if you are considering applying for admittance to the MMA Market Timing Academy (MMTA), then this DVD is highly recommended. To order this DVD, please go to     http://www.mmacycles.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=379&Itemid=48.  You may also call or email us at 1-248-626-3034, or orders@mmacycles.com.  

Events:

May 30-June 2, 2013: Great Lakes Astrology Conference, Ann Arbor, MI. Featuring internationally known astrologers, Michael Lutin, Chris McRae, Monica Dimino, Glenn Perry, Lea and Aleksandar Imsiragic, Sandra Leigh Serio, and Raymond Merriman. For further information, please contact Pamela Wenzel at jcweipw@juno.com, or magnum1593@gmail.com, or visit their website at http://www. greatlakesastrology.com.   

June 15-17, 2013: MMTA Course 2: “Geocosmic Correlations to Long-Term Cycles in Financial Markets” with Raymond Merriman. Location: MEC Technical Center of Michigan State University, Troy, Michigan. This will be available as a webinar to non-MMTA students and apprentices fro $2750.00.

August 10-12, 2013: MMTA Course 3: “Geocosmic Correlations to Primary and Trading Cycles in Financial Markets” with Raymond Merriman. Location: MEC Technical Center of Michigan State University, Troy, Michigan.


October 12-14, 2013: MMTA Course 4: “Solar-Lunar Correlations to Short-Term Reversals in Financial Markets” with Raymond Merriman. Location: MEC Technical Center of Michigan State University, Troy, Michigan.

 

Disclaimer and statement of purpose:

The purpose of this column is not to predict the future movement of various financial markets. However, that is the purpose of the MMA (Merriman Market Analyst) subscription services. This column is not a subscription service. It is a free service, except in those cases where a fee may be assessed to cover the cost of translating this column from English into a non-English language.

This weekly report is written with the intent to educate the reader on the relationship between astrological factors and collective human activities as they are happening. In this regard, this report will oftentimes report what happened in various stock and financial markets throughout the world in the past week, and discuss that movement in light of the geocosmic signatures that were in effect. It will then identify the geocosmic factors that will be in effect in the next week, or even month, or even years, and the author’s understanding of how these signatures will likely affect human activity in the times to come. The author (Merriman) will do this from a perspective of a cycle’s analyst looking at the military, political, economic, and even financial markets of the world.

It is possible that some forecasts will be made based on these factors. However, the primary goal is to both educate and alert the reader as to the psychological climate we are in, from an astrological perspective. The hope is that it will help the reader understand these psychological dynamics that underlie (or coincide with) the news events and hence financial markets of the day.

No guarantee as to the accuracy of this report is being made here. Any decisions in financial markets are solely the responsibility of the reader, and neither the author nor the publishers assume any responsibility at all for those individual decisions. Reader should understand that futures and options trading are considered high risk.

Copyright MMACycles 2007; you may link to this site or page, but you may not distribute these texts in any way (by email or otherwise).

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