Merriman Market Analyst

Review and Preview

Last week’s column asked: “Will the symmetry complete itself with another crest within days of June 25? This should be an interesting week, given that 3 of the four factors have now culminated as symmetry would suggest, with the fourth due in one week.” The symmetry referred to was the transiting Sun making a translation to the Jupiter-Uranus square (June 4-11) followed by the Saturn-Neptune opposition of June 25. When these two geocosmic patterns occurred in reverse order back on February 28 and March 5-9, stock markets around the world first made new multi-year highs just a couple of days before February 28 then sold off sharply into March 5-9. This time we speculated the opposite would happen: stock indices would sell off into June 4-11 and then rally to another high within a couple of days of Monday, June 25. That is exactly what happened, and once again shows the how Financial Astrology can be an excellent trading tool.

In Europe, all the indices we track sold off into a low that formed on June 8. All rallied strongly form that low into last week, with the Netherlands AEX and German DAX making new multi-year highs on Wednesday, June 20. The London FTSE made a new multi-year high last Monday. The Swiss Stock Index was weakest of all. It too rallied to a crest last Monday, but it was considerably below its all-time high of 9548 realized back on June 4.

In the Pacific Rim, the decline into the June 4-11 translation period was realized in the Hang Seng Index of Hong Kong, which then reversed and soared to a new all-time high on Friday, June 22. The All Ordinaries of Australia and Nikkei index of Japan made their lows on June 13, a couple of days past the June 4-11 period. But both rallied strongly into Wednesday, June 20, falling just short of their recent all-time or multi-year highs made earlier this year.

In the Americas, the Dow Jones Industrial Average bottomed at 13,251 on June 8, and followed with a rally to 13,674 last Wednesday, June 20, just slightly off its all-time high of June 1 at 13,692. The NASDAQ Composite also ended a sell-off on June 8 at 2535, then rallied sharply to a new 6-year high last Wednesday, June 20, at 2634. In Brazil, the Bovespa also bottomed on June 8 at 50,884, then soared to anew all-time high of 55,003 last Wednesday, just three trading days before the Saturn-Neptune opposition of this coming Monday. The Argentina Merval Index rallied to 2249 last Wednesday, just a coupe, of points beneath its all-time high of 2256 realized back on June 1.

But as we enter Monday’s third and final passage of the Saturn-Neptune opposition, we see most stock indices falling, some sharply, off their highs just realized this past week. And form a technical point of view, almost everyone is exhibiting bearish divergence on their oscillators (new highs or nearly new highs, but much weaker momentum indicators). What does this mean? Well, under normal circumstances, it would mean the market has now topped out, and a very significant decline has begun. But with Mercury retrograde and Saturn in opposition to Neptune, we know these are not “normal” circumstances. Mercury retrograde implies markets are prone to false breakouts and false technical buy and sell signals. And Saturn-Neptune signatures can indicate covert activities affecting market prices, such as rumors and intentionally misleading political or economic news releases. Or worse.

In other markets, Crude Oil soared to its highest level in 9 months, testing the 70.00 mark late last week. Corn and Soybeans made new multi-month highs on Monday, with Corn going exactly to our price target of 426 as reported ion both our daily and weekly subscription reports. It then sold off sharply, closing the week at 367, indicating the high for this season may be in. The Dollar soared to its highest level in over 4 years against the Japanese Yen, but continued its decline against European currencies as Japan’s central bank did not budge on its very low interest rates, thus continuing to offer the equivalent of “almost free money” to those who can apply the “carry trade” to their advantage in trading between U.S. stocks and the Japanese currency against the U.S. Dollar. At some point, when everyone learns how to take advantage of this opportune window (“fixed game”), it will close and stock markets around the world will come crashing down, probably along with the U.S. Dollar. In the meantime, Gold and Silver ended rallies on Wednesday as well, and then sold off into Friday, as the later days of the heliocentric Mercury in Sagittarius draw to an end. The first days of that transit (June 15-26) are usually bullish, with the last few days usually bearish, and this time was no exception.

Short-Term Geocosmics

Mercury is currently in its retrograde period (June 15-July 9). As stated last week, “This is typically a time of conflicting political and economic news events… Mercury retrograde is known to astrologers as a time when misunderstandings and poor communications… But communications apply to computers too... It is not uncommon to experience computer or telecommunication problems during these periods.” I hope somebody forewarned the people at United Airlines of this last week. Their computers went down in a big way, causing massive delays in flights.

Mercury retrograde is probably not the most important signature taking place right now. We already discussed the Saturn-Neptune opposition of this Monday at length, but Uranus is turning retrograde this weekend (June 23) and has an even more powerful correspondence to reversals in stock indices. With Uranus, we have to consider the themes of unexpected surprises and sudden reversals in financial markets that catch both traders and investors off guard. It is not a good time to be complacent, and unfortunately, most invertors been just that as of late. They may now been in for a very rude and unprepared awakening. Nothing is working as it “should.” Uranus also rules computers, so we may not have seen the end of these problems with the turmoil over at United Airlines or other companies dealing in travel. It also rules earthquakes and strong winds, so Mother Nature may also hit us with a big surprise in the next few days.

Long-Term Thoughts

The final passage of the 10-month Saturn-Neptune opposition ends this Monday, June 25. I think the barrage of moral and ethical issues – and their lapses on the part of business and governmental leaders – has left most people weary. It’s correspondence with both “too much rain” and “not enough rain” (drought) has left many farmers of the world very weary. These trends should now draw to a close. Weather patterns will soon return to normal, probably after the Uranus-turning-retrograde period ends in a week or so. And politicians the world over will make renewed vows to correct the ethical abuses that have seriously harmed the public’s trust in them and the business community. But damage has been done, and the trends initiated over the past few months and even years (since Saturn was in opposition to Pluto) that led to this massive distrust of leaders and polarization of groups (i.e. political parties), will probably take years to repair. It is exactly in this sort of climate that a third political party could form in the United States, in time for the 2008 Presidential election. And it is interesting that as we approach the final passage of the Saturn-Neptune opposition, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg leaves the Republican Party – after already having left the Democratic Party – to become an Independent. This may be a man worth watching closely in the months ahead. His actions seem to be in tune with the drama unfolding in the heavens, namely the Saturn-Uranus opposition of 2008-2010.