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MMA Comments for the Week Beginning May 23
Written by Raymond Merriman   

The Market Week in Review


    Last week’s full moon was particularly noteworthy in world stock prices. Depending on where in the world you were, the full moon took place on either May 16 or 17. In Asian and Pacific Rim equity markets, the low of the week took place on May 16 or 17. In the Australian All Ordinaries index, the low was May 16 at 4718, which was considerably higher than the primary bottom of March 17 at 4559. The high of the week occurred on Thursday at 4834, which is considerably lower than the high of the year so far at 5069 on April 11. Both the Hang Seng and Japanese Nikkei bottomed on May 17, and again that low did not take out the primary cycle trough of March 15-17. Both then rallied to their weekly highs on May 19, and again that was considerably below their recent highs of April 18 in the Hang Seng and May 2 in the. Nikkei. So for each of these indices, prices are in congestion between the lows of mid-March and the highs of April 11-May 2. In Russia, however, the MICEX stock index to a new multi-month low last week at 1603. That was its lowest level since December 2, 2010, and was probably a result of falling crude oil prices over the past two weeks.


    In Europe, there was some intermarket divergence as well. Each of the four indices we track made weekly lows on May 17 or 18. None took out their primary cycle troughs of March 15-17. Each of the four markets then rallied into the end of last week, May 19-20. These rallies did not make new monthly highs in the AEX, DAX, or FTSE. However, a new cycle high was recorded in the Swiss SMI index on Friday, May 20. Since this is right in the middle of a time band of several powerful geocosmic signatures, it may become a case of intermarket bearish divergence. However, that idea will be negated if prices in the former three indices make new cycle highs in the next 1-2 weeks. That possibility cannot be ruled out, as Jupiter and Uranus are still in Aries, and that is the engine still driving this “Asset Inflation Express,” although it is getting old.


    In the Americas, there is also a potential case of intermarket divergence developing. In the USA, both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and NASDAQ Composite made their weekly low on May 17. That low was considerably above the primary bottom of March 15-16. The rally that followed into the end of last week, however, was not too impressive. It has not exceeded the multi-year highs of May 2, and it closed weak. Thus like most of the world’s stock indices, the USA equity markets are also in congestion between the highs of May 2, and the lows of mid-March. But in South America, it was a little different. Argentina’s Merval index is getting less and less volatile. The range of every week seems smaller and smaller, as it too continues in congestion between the cycle low of March 16 and cycle high of April 6. The Bovespa index of Brazil, on the other hand, continues to fall to its lowest levels since July 2010, even as other markets were rising into the end of last week. Inflation in Brazil and Russia is not translating into higher stock prices on their exchanges.


    In other markets, both Gold and Silver were weak into Tuesday, May 17 when they formed their weekly lows. Gold fell to 1471 and Silver to 3296. But in each case, those lows remained above the lows of the prior two weeks. The rally that followed was not too impressive in Silver as it topped out 3575 on Thursday. But Gold prices rallied to a weekly high into the close of last week, with Friday’s intraday high up to 1515.80. Both metals still remain well below their highs of April 25 (Silver at 4984) and May 2 (Gold at 1577.40). Crude Oil made a weekly low on the same May 17 date, with the June contract down to 95.02. Again the market started to rally afterwards, slightly above 100.00 on Wednesday and Thursday, but it closed the week below 100. In currencies, the Euro and the Swiss Franc posted their weekly lows on May 16, one day prior to the full moon, and commenced rallies into early Friday that were still well below their cycle highs of May 4. The Euro then sold off again into the close on Friday, while the Swiss Franc remained near its weekly high. The Japanese Yen on the other hand, did just the opposite. It posted its high at the end of the prior week (May 13), and spent most of last week declining each day. The Sun is in Gemini now, so consistency between these markets is not to be expected.


    Regarding the U.S. Dollar, it made a new multi-year low at 72.86 on May 4. It had an impressive rally to a high of 76.19 on May 17 last week, after which it started to pull back into the end of the week. But it managed to close the week at a respectable 75.58. Readers are encouraged to read my long-term analysis of the U.S. Dollar posted at www.mmacycles.com. Just scroll down the page until you see the article.   


Short-Term Geocosmics


    Only Jupiter and Uranus, the key components of the “Asset Inflation Express,” remain in the speculative and assertive sign of Aries. Indeed this ride has slowed down considerably since the new moon in Taurus on May 2-3 was followed by several other planets moving into the sign of the bull. The Sun is now leaving the conservative earth sign of Taurus for the wild and unpredictable sign of Gemini, May 21-June 21. Gemini is a mutable sign, and mutable signs are where trends often change. It gets volatile in mutable signs. Mercury will join the Sun in Gemini on June 2. Venus does the same one week later on June 9. Neptune is already in the mutable sign of Pisces through August 5. You can see the cosmic forces are shifting, because on June 4, Jupiter also leaves Aries. Only Uranus will remain there. In fact, Uranus remains there for about 7 years. But without the accompaniment of Jupiter alongside it, the “Asset Inflation Express” may become like a like a fast car without a driver, speeding along the autobahn without a map and lacking a clear idea of where it is headed. It’s in a big hurry to get somewhere, but it seems to have lost its way, and so it starts to take alternative routes, hoping that one leads it onto a path it recognizes. But instead it just seems to get further and further off course, and increasingly anxious about it. Did I mention that the USA hit its $14.3 trillion debt limit last week, on May 17?


    As discussed previously, there are at least 4 major geocosmic signatures in effect May 20-23. Last week’s column stated, “Something big may be about to happen. Maybe this is the end of the line for the Asset Inflation Express. Or maybe it continues into Neptune turning retrograde on June 2. This signature has an astounding 86% correlation to primary or greater cycles within just 10 trading days, and has the extra advantage of occurring just one day before Jupiter ingresses from Aries into Taurus.” It is interesting that Mercury also transits into its ruling sign of Gemini just one day earlier, June 3. The end of the line is near.


Longer-Term Thoughts


    The end of the line for the Asset Inflation Express relates to the historical correlation in stock prices of Jupiter moving from Aries to Taurus. In prior columns I have discussed the orb of time (7 degrees) in which this passage has correlated with long-term crests in the U.S. stock market. We are in that orb of time now that is centered on June 4, give or take about 7 weeks. And we discussed how it re-enters this astrological orb of space October 7, 2011-March 7, 2012 due to Jupiter’s retrograde motion. One (or possibly both with a double top pattern) of these times is scheduled to coincide with the crest of this current bull market that started in March 2009.


    But it could be now, unless U.S. political leaders can come to an agreement on 1) raising the debt ceiling limit and 2) reducing government spending. One without the other is just kicking the can further down the road, and the further it is kicked, the harder it will be to get back to normal. The debt ceiling limit of $14.2 trillion has been reached as of last Tuesday, May 17. However, through its clever banking practices, the U.S. Treasury is now borrowing from federal pension funds (and other questionable steps) in order to stretch its cash flow out until August 2. That is the new “D-day” (default day), which seems to lack a certain required sense of urgency. If the USA defaults on its debt, that will be catastrophic, an opinion I have shared long before, but which is just now being talked about in financial and government circles.


    The problem for us as Financial Astrologers is that we see a time window of possible agreements coming to an end very shortly. May was previously identified as the “best month” for resolving this debt crisis issue through practical agreements, as many planets were together in the practical sign of Taurus, combined with a slew of favorable Venus transits. Venus also rules agreements, and the last Venus transit of this period ends on Monday, May 23, when it conjuncts Mars. After that, the cosmos starts to move from the stable and sensible influence of Taurus to the highly volatile, brilliant, but not necessarily practical influence of Gemini, where anything can happen. Typically agreements made in Gemini are more temporary than long-lasting. They are subject to many modifications. With Neptune also turning stationary retrograde on June 3, agreements may soon be more wishful thinking than practical. Promises made may not be deliverable once reality enters the picture.


    This is all a wonderful time for love and romance (May 2-June 6). But it is rapidly evaporating from a period of potential agreement on financial issues to escalating anxiety over the lack of any definitive solution. Equity markets are likely to respond with a resounding thud by the full moon period in mid-June (June 10-17). However, that does not negate the possibility of a sudden rise in equity prices first in the next few sessions, as long as the lows of last week hold. If not, this express may be derailing.

 

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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