REVIEW AND PREVIEW
The Dow ended up more than 700 points as stocks rose sharply Friday, with investors weighing the possibility of a slower pace of rate increases. All three major indexes gained during the week, with the Dow notching its third straight week of gains.– www.wsj.com, October 21, 2022.
Yesterday’s US jobless claims decline kept bond yields elevated. US Federal Reserve Chair Powell’s poor communication does not help—markets are not sure whether the Fed wants to squeeze workers or profits to reduce inflation (the latter would be more appropriate), creating unnecessary sensitivity to data releases. – Dr. Paul Donovan, “Moving On,” UBD Morning Audio Comment, October 21, 2022.
The week started off with a grand air trine between Sun/Venus in Libra to Mars in Gemini and Saturn in Aquarius, October 12-19. The most recent lows in several global stock indices were at the beginning of the period, on October 13, which also sported the Mars/Neptune square on the same day. The stock market plunged immediately after the CPI report was announced that day, then started a sharp rally that has continued through last week. The DJIA ended up over 700 points on Friday for its best weekly gain since June.
However, the gains and new multi-month highs were not even across the board. In Europe, the SMI and DAX made new 5-week highs on October 18 during the grand trine, on Tuesday, October 18. The FTSE and AEX did not make new 5-week highs.
In Asia and the Pacific Rim, only India’s Nifty index made a new multi-week high on Friday. The SSE (Shanghai Stock Composite Index) had a modest rally to a weekly high on October 19 and both the Japan Nikkei and Australian ASX made secondary highs on October 19 (but lower than the highs of October 6). The Hang Seng in Hong Kong, on the other hand, fell to its lowest level since May 2009 on Thursday, October 20.
In the Americas, Brazil’s Bovespa index soared to its highest mark since April, while the DJIA’s high on Friday was its best level since September 15. The S&P and NASDAQ, on the other hand, were well below their recent highs of October 6. The bottom line is that there is still plenty of intermarket bearish divergence throughout the various regions of the world, which is not a convincing sign that the bear market has ended, even if the Fed does announce it will slow down the pace of interest rate increases.
Bullish divergence was also observable in the precious metals markets. On Friday, October 21, Gold fell to its lowest level since April 2020. But Silver remained well above its recent low of $18.01 the prior week. By Friday’s close Gold was up nearly $40 off that low and Silver was back above $19.00.
What caused these rallies? First, earnings reports were still fairly strong. Second, there is a rumor (did we say Mars will square Neptune for the next several weeks?) that the Fed will start pulling back from its rate increases. Third, the Bank of Japan intervened in the support of the Yen again on Friday, bringing the Dollar sharply lower against the Yen. Metals and stocks like the idea of a weaker Dollar. So do multi-national American corporations who find it difficult to sell their goods abroad at such unfavorable exchange rates. A lower dollar will help their exports.
SHORT-TERM GEOCOSMICS AND LONGER-TERM THOUGHTS
The standard explanation for Truss’s bad few weeks doesn’t hold up. The real reason is far scarier. If the accepted General Theory of Trussonomics doesn’t hold up, try this: The markets’ beef with Trussonomics was that it might have worked. – Joseph C. Sternberg, “The U.K. Market Meltdown Could be Headed Your Way,” Wall Street Journal, October 21, 2022.
The United Kingdom would like to make clear that the last two weeks were an elaborate publicity stunt to advertise an upcoming Mr. Bean movie. No notice should be taken. Financial markets have reduced the competence risk premium and can now ignore UK politics—unless former UK PM Johnson re-emerges, in which case the market may reconsider the risk premia. Dr. Paul Donovan, “Moving On,” UBD Morning Audio Comment, October 21, 2022.
The cosmic fireworks are not over. This weekend finds Saturn ending its retrograde motion, and stations involving Saturn usually have a dour message. Saturn rules loss, among other things, and often a failure or delay to accomplish one’s goals, especially in government. The short reign of U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss, brought about by her effort to enact a modest tax cut package over five years to stimulate the economy, is a prime example of both Saturn turning direct (loss) as well as Mars square Neptune (rumors and scapegoating). In the article by Joseph Steinberg quoted above, he goes on to note, “Then there’s the question of how one gets from a bond selloff to a central-bank bailout for pension funds, of all things. Britain’s defined-benefit pension managers certainly have gotten caught out by the near-catastrophic failure of a hedging strategy designed to sustain them through long periods of ultralow interest rates.” How convenient to deflect the blame for that lack of fiduciary responsibility onto Truss. That lack of oversight by the pension fund managers likely had more to do with the collapse of the U.K.’s financial stability than the policies of the new Prime Minister. Truss was the classical Neptune victim of macho Mars taking full and aggressive control of the narrative. We may be seeing more of that David and Goliath mismatch when Mars turns retrograde next weekend, October 30, a cosmic setup where the aggressor ends up losing. In other words, the truth may start to come out as to why Britain’s financial system nearly collapsed, and the fingers may not be pointing so much at Truss, the scapegoat (or Mr. Bean).
Saturn turning direct is a powerful Level 2 geocosmic signature when given an orb of 9 trading days. It has a high correlation to primary cycles in stock indices and may have correlated with a primary cycle trough in many stock indices on October 13, which was six trading days before this station. That too might explain why the stock market was strong last week, for the early stages of all primary cycles are more bullish than bearish. Even in bear markets they can exhibit strong rallies for 2-5 weeks.
In other geocosmic news, the Sun and Venus will leave Libra for Scorpio this weekend too. Venus in Libra is one of the planet-sign combinations we have identified as corresponding to important lows in metals and rallies in stocks. It appears to have worked again. Now advancing into Scorpio on October 23, the attention will likely shift to debt and taxes, and off of Mr. Bean’s wild ride in the U.K.
Later in the week, Jupiter will retrograde back into Pisces, October 28-December 20. You may remember it was Jupiter in Pisces early this year that brought us the hit show, “The Return of Inflation,” which made box office records that producers were completely unprepared for. Inflation’s not over, and neither is the tendency to misjudge when it will be. But that won’t stop banking leaders and others from making statements (even predictions) as if they know this time. It’s going to one of those periods where you may want to sell the rumor and buy the fact, except facts are in short supply compared to rumors with Mars retrograde square Neptune (rumors), and Jupiter on its way back to almost joining Neptune in Pisces (big rumors, even whoppers) through the end of this year. Crude Oil and metals may like that. Those with a sense of humor might too.
And by the way, I do think the rate of inflation will come down in 2023 and the Fed will regain control over price stability for a couple of years before their next misjudgment, which I will cover in the Forecast 2023 Book. This would be a good time to order next week’s book as the special pre-publication sale ends October 31 (see Announcements below).
ANNOUNCEMENTS
NOTE 1: ONE MORE WEEK! FORECAST 2023 SPECIAL OFFERS ARE NOW UNDERWAY! Written by Raymond Merriman, the preliminary outlook is that 2023 will be another very important year, with Pluto starting its 20-year transit through Aquarius.
This Annual Forecast Pre-Order Event will run through October 31 and will include our once-a-year sale discounts on both the annual Forecast Book, print and eBook, and MMA Subscription Reports. You may pre-order Forecast 2023 at the discounted rate of $45. And the best deal on MMA Subscription Reports is offered at this time! Save big bucks off any subscription ($275+) with purchase of Forecast 2023.
Please note that after the pre-sale period ends, the price for the printed edition of Forecast 2023 will increase to $66 on November 1st and not $55 as originally intended. The cost of paper, printing, and distribution has gone up so much in the past few weeks that we have to make adjustments. Nevertheless, we will still honor our current pre-publication discount rate for $45. And the price for the eBook edition will remain at $55.00 after October 31. Thus, if you wish to purchase a printed edition of this year’s Forecast Book, it is best to order now, before October 31, and save $21.00.
Offer to consider: With printers dealing with supply problems in getting paper, we cannot guarantee the printed edition of this year’s book will be completed on time for delivery by December 25. It may or may not be. We think it will. We do know that the book will be written and turned in on time, as usual, and the eBook will be ready on or around December 15. Therefore, purchasers of the printed edition may wish to also order the eBook this year to make sure they at least get the text in time. MMA offers a “bundle” purchasing plan where those who order the printed edition can also order the eBook for only $20.00. That way, you will be assured of receiving the text for reading over the holidays in case the printed edition of the book is not able to be delivered prior to December 15 as planned.
MMA will again publish an individual book dedicated to the yearly trends for the twelve individual signs. The book, Trends for the Twelve Signs 2023, will be written by Antonia Langsdorf-Merriman and Raymond Merriman. Antonia has written an annual Sun Sign book in German for the past several years, based on interviews conducted with Raymond beforehand. We will follow a format this year where Langsdorf will cover the health and relationships outlook and Merriman will cover the business, career, and overall psychological outlook of each sign for the year. The cost of this book will be $25, with a further discount if ordered together with the Forecast 2023 Book.
We offer discounts to our Forecast Fan Club Members and our Active Subscriber Club members. Check out our page on Forecast Club Levels to learn more about these discounts.
This year’s printed and eBook versions of Forecast 2023 will also be available in these languages:
German: www.mma-europe.ch/ or email at info@mma-europe.ch
Japanese: https://www.toushinippou.co.jp/
Chinese: www.nodoor.com/
We created an updated list of our most common Forecast FAQs to help this Forecast season.
NOTE 2: THE OCTOBER-NOVEMBER ISSUE OF THE MMA Monthly Cycles Report Plus+ written by Pouyan Zolfagarnia will be released this week, October 24-25. The mid-month addendum to the MMA Cycles report has very attractive graphics and charts (people love it!) and is very readable. It contains more references and illustrations to geocosmics than most MMA Cycles reports and is only available for subscription to those who also subscribe to the MMA Monthly Cycles Report. If you wish to try this month’s addendum, along with the latest issue of the MMA Monthly Cycles Report, sign up online at the link above. Cost for a monthly copy of both reports is $55. That will give you both the most recent copy of the MMA Cycles report and the MMA Cycles Report addendum coming out this week.
NOTE 3: THE OCTOBER ISSUE OF THE MMA ETF Report was just released last week on Thursday, October 20! Written by MMTA director Gianni Di Poce, this report covers the following ETFs: SPY (S&P stock market), GDX (Gold), BITO (Bitcoin), TLT (Treasuries), USO (Crude Oil ETF), XLV (Health groups), XLK (Technology), and XHB (home builders, real estate). Now you can get MMA’s cycles and geocosmic outlooks for the most popular and traded ETFs, which trade like stocks on the major exchanges. A great compliment to the monthly MMA Cycles Report! Sign up now for the best rates available before the standard rates go into effect shortly.
NOTE 4: TUNE INTO MMA’S NEW WEEKLY YouTube Channel on the geocosmic climate related to financial markets hosted by MMTA Educational Director Gianni Di Poce. New videos are recorded and released every Friday night. These 5-15 minute video presentations review market activity of the past week and offer a preview of the geocosmic signatures in effect for the next week and beyond. You may subscribe to MMA’s YouTube Channel today at no cost and get announcements when each geocosmic market review is ready for viewing! To view this week’s MMA YouTube episode, click here.
NOTE 5: ANNOUNCING THE NEW MMA CYCLES GRAIN REPORT! It’s coming in late January 2023. Edited by top MMTA graduate Wyatt Fellows, this report will provide excellent cyclical and geocosmic analysis on Soybeans, Corn, Wheat, and Cotton. Wyatt owns and operates a large farm in Wisconsin and has a deep understanding of the cycles and fundamentals connected with grain markets. This is a report that all farmers, people connected with the grain business, and traders will want to have access to. We have sent out two Cotton studies by Wyatt so far and the response has been excellent. We will be sending a free sample of this new grain report before January, at which time you will be able to sign up and subscribe to this report if you wish for a special introductory rate. Stay tuned!
EVENTS
January 6, 2023: MMA CHINA WEBINAR FORECAST 2023 WEBINAR! Financial markets review for the China SSE stock index, Gold, Crude Oil, and now DJIA and Bitcoin: Details and registration will be announced soon.
February 19, 2023: ANNUAL MMA FORECAST 2023 WEBINAR with Ray Merriman. Details and registration will be announced soon.
Disclaimer and statement of purpose: The purpose of this column is not to forecast 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 often cite 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 may affect human activity in the times to come. The author (Merriman) will do this from the perspective of a cycles’ 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 the psychological dynamics that underlie (or coincide with) the news events and their potential effect on financial markets.
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 of this column assume any responsibility whatsoever for anyone’s trading or investment decisions. Readers of this report should understand that commodity futures and options trading are considered high risk.