MMA FREE WEEKLY COLUMN FOR THE WEEK BEGINNING MARCH 2, 2026

REVIEW

 A 6–3 Supreme Court majority on Friday, February 20, struck down President Trump’s sweeping emergency tariffs in a monumental vindication of the Constitution’s separation of powers. You might call it the real tariff Liberation Day … but his rant in response to his tariff defeat at the Court was arguably the worst moment of his presidency.

—Review & Outlook, “The Real Tariff Liberation Day: Trump Demeans Himself on the High Court,” The Wall Street Journal, February 21–22, 2026.

 The Producer Price Index rose 0.5% last month, a pickup from December’s 0.4% rate. The new data indicates that more tariff-related price increases could still be to come. Stock futures moved lower after the data release, with investors fearing the hotter-than-expected inflation report could lead the Federal Reserve to keep its rate-cutting cycle on pause.

—Alicia Wallace, “Wholesale Inflation Was Hotter Than Expected in January,” CNN, February 27, 2026.

The Supreme Court’s ruling that the Trump tariffs launched on “Liberation Day” in April 2025 were illegal was a “good news/bad news” event for global stock markets. It was good news for most countries outside of the U.S., but bad news for the U.S. stock market. And, oh boy, did it ever coincide with our TUMDI signal – the “Trump Uranus Market Disruption Indicator” – in effect February 3-27, 2026.

The DJIA, for instance, made its all-time high on February 10, at 50,512, right in the middle of Uranus direct (Feb 3), Venus square Uranus (February 8), and the solar eclipse square Uranus on February 16-17. But the Uranus tsunami didn’t end there. Mars squared Uranus on Friday, February 27, just after Mercury turned retrograde on February 25 and just one week after the 36-year Saturn/Neptune synodic cycle. By Friday, the DJIA was breaking to a new 4-week low and nearing its lowest level since January 2. The S&P and NASDAQ also struggled last week but have not yet fallen to new monthly lows.

Yet, other world stock indices rejoiced at the Supreme Court decision, with many soaring to new all-time highs (ATH). In Europe, both the Netherlands’ AEX and the London FTSE set new ATHs late last week. Both the German DAX and Zurich SMI rallied smartly, trading at multi-week highs on Friday, too.

In Asia and the Pacific Rim, the Australian ASX and Japanese Nikkei indices roared to new ATHs. China traded up to 4168 in the SSE on February 25, not far from its 10-year peak of 4191 on January 14. India’s NIFTY and the Hang Seng of Hong Kong, however, declined last week, along with the U.S.

Gold and Silver performed well, rallying to their highest levels since the collapse, following their January 29 ATHs. This is probably related to the threat of a military strike on Iran as Mars squares Uranus. The same war threats probably led to Crude Oil’s rally to 67.83 on Friday, a level not seen since August 1. Bitcoin and Ethereum failed to maintain a mid-week rally and faltered into Friday.

 SHORT-TERM GEOCOSMICS

 “Is there something so wrong with society that makes us so pressurized that we cannot live in it without guarding ourselves against it?”

—John Lennon, “The Year That Music Changed Everything,” Apple TV+.

We now enter another Mercury retrograde cycle, February 26-March 20. It didn’t take long for the Trickster to start its iconic “Contradictory Shuffle” dance routine. On Friday, the U.S. Producer Price Index came in very hot, rising by 0.5% when the consensus expectation was 0.3%. Normally, this would cause interest rates to rise and stocks to fall, as the Fed would be concerned about rising inflation. Stocks did indeed fall after the report, but Ten-Year Treasuries rose as rates fell below 4% during the day for the first time since November. Is this to be the first example of a Mercury retrograde fake-out for this cycle?

With the Trickster (Mercury retrograde) back amongst us, and Mars square Uranus with Mars (aggression) about to move into Pisces (passivity) on Monday, March 2, the next three weeks may be very confusing for both the masses of people as well as world leaders. Where are we headed? It is a subject I addressed in last week’s Annual Forecast Webinar, and it may lead to an increase in mental health issues on one hand in 2026. However, on the other hand, the realization that societal and governmental change can come about through nonviolent protests. Violence will only lead people to support government restrictions on their freedom in return for promises of safety.

Market-wise, we have two other contradictory signatures ahead. Venus will conjoin Neptune on March 7 and Saturn on March 8. The first can be bullish, but the second activates one of our rules, which is to buy any market that declines into a hard Venus/Saturn aspect. Thus, we will apply another one of our rules: be very nimble and trade short-term during a Mercury retrograde cycle, for whipsaws and false buy and sell signals can occur every 1-4 trading days. In the event that no markets complete any major or greater cycle top or bottom within 4 trading days of February 25, we will look for a stronger reversal at the midpoint of the Trickster’s cycle, which will also occur on March 8-9 (a weekend/Monday, so watch next Friday and the following Monday closely for possible reversals that are tradeable for quick profits).

One may tempted to play a mental game of “he/she loves me, he/she loves me not.” However, it is better to ask for the truth and not rely upon one’s fears (Saturn) or fantasies (Neptune), especially with Mercury retrograde, where maybe the answer to this question is premature. Maturity should be held in high value these days.

LONGER-TERM THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS

 The reality is that tariffs have been disruptive to the economy and are deeply unpopular. They haven’t reduced the trade deficit or boosted factory employment, as Mr. Trump claims they have. Higher levies on imports lead to higher costs and fewer choices. The president insists that tariffs ultimately are paid by foreigners and are necessary to “protect our companies,” but a recent study by the New York Federal Reserve concluded what many other studies have shown—that nearly all the economic burden from the Trump tariffs has fallen on U.S. firms and consumers. Jason L. Riley, “The GOP’s Last Chance to Shed the Tariff Albatross,” Wall Street Journal, February 25, 2026.

These data point to a reality that Mr. Trump refuses to acknowledge—namely, a country or region runs trade deficits whenever it attracts more global capital than it repels, and it runs trade surpluses whenever it repels more capital than it attracts. Donald Boudreaux, “America’s Trade Deficit Is a Sign of Strength,” Letters to the Editor, Wall Street Journal, February 21-22, 2026.

 As I think about how this Aries Vortex symbolizes the bottom of the social, cultural, and political divide and how we might come out of it economically stronger, a few thoughts come to mind related to Uranus entering Gemini in a trine aspect to Pluto in Aquarius configuration. President Trump wants to reinvigorate the manufacturing sector of the economy, which at first glance seems ill-advised, as very few Americans want to work in factories. Plus, it is apparent that this aspect coincides with a huge displacement of the current workforce in both public service (government) and manufacturing (automobiles, computer chips, military supplies, and weapons/drones), to be replaced by AI and robots. But herein lies a reason why the priority to resurrect manufacturing could work.

Imagine a factory where the majority of the labor is performed by robots (this is not hard to imagine). After the initial investment, even with the training and adoption of far fewer new workers to maintain and oversee the work of the robots, the payroll cost of these companies will be sharply reduced. They could very well fall below the cost of outsourcing the work to other countries where humans still assemble parts for much lower wages (and benefits) than are currently offered to American factory workers. The result could be very profitable to manufacturers. At the same time, this transition would not be particularly positive for unions, which would have to create a new class of memberships for robots.

In this scenario, the future would look very bright for both tech companies and those who produce robots, as well as manufacturers who put these new “machines” to work doing the labor. The demand for AI skills and robots is likely to increase substantially with Uranus in Gemini. And new jobs to maintain and repair robots and machines would also increase, yet require far fewer bodies than are currently employed in these vocations. The U.S. could again be competitive in manufacturing as the entire concept of labor and services undergoes this historic Pluto in Aquarius transformation.

This could be one of the positive outcomes of Uranus trine Pluto in air signs as we move past the Aries Vortex peak in 2026. Now, if the president could just get over his obsession with using tariffs as a weapon of control, causing our trading partners to lose trust in the U.S. and seek trade alliances with other nations, this could work out very profitably for U.S. manufacturers. Companies would likely reinvest in factories and manufacturing if they had a sense of greater certainty regarding them in the future of world trade. Tariffs, on the other hand, could cost the companies all the benefits this transformation could otherwise offer. Hence, they delay the investment required to make this work more quickly and to the benefit of the nation’s economy.

Someone (a friend) recently wrote that “The way to predict the future is to invent it.” I replied, “The best way to predict the future is to understand the present and the history that led to it.” Steep new tariffs have never served the U.S. well, and this time appears no different. A trade deficit is not a bad thing. It is more often a sign that your nation is doing well and can afford the products of other nations. Increasing the cost for other nations to buy your products or increasing the cost of your companies’ products to sell them abroad is not a policy that works in the long run, as today’s sharp increase in PPI, and the stock market’s negative reaction to the report suggest.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

 NOTE 1: LAST CHANCE FOR THE BEST DEAL! MMA’S 2026 TRADERS’ RETREAT WILL TAKE PLACE MAY 20–24, 2026, IN LAKE BLED, SLOVENIA!!! Pre-register by March 1 and save big bucks!!!

 This special four-day event will focus on trading strategies for position and short-term traders in 2026. It will cover the unique, research-based MMA methods for identifying primary, half-primary, major, and trading cycles. It will then apply those market-timing techniques (cycles and geocosmic studies) to the current situation in stock markets, Gold, Silver, Bitcoin, currencies, interest rates, and grain markets, with strategies for each on both a short- and intermediate-term basis (one week to 12 months ahead).

There will also be special presentations and interactive discussions on current and future world conditions through 2032 that are likely to affect financial markets. These sessions will be led by world-class mundane astrologers Claude Weiss (Switzerland), Christeen Skinner (UK), Christof Niederwieser (Germany), Pouyan Zolfagharnia (UK), and Raymond Merriman (USA). Joining them on MMA timing methodology and trading strategies will be MMTA Director Wiebke Held (Germany) and MMA analysts Wyatt Fellows (USA), Ulric Aspegrén (Switzerland), Gianni Di Poce (USA), and MMA Trading Coach Rita Perea (USA).

Registration is now open, with special discounts for early-bird registration. The first early-bird pre-registration discount ends March 1 (save $600). The presentations will also be available via Zoom for those unable to attend in person, and recordings (along with PowerPoint slides) will be available immediately after each day’s presentations to all attendees. For the schedule, registration, speaker bios, topic descriptions, and hotel information, please click here. The MMA Annual Investment and Traders’ Retreat is an incredible event! Don’t miss it if you can make it.

NOTE 2: THE MMA ANNUAL FORECAST 2026 WORLDWIDE WEBINAR WITH RAYMOND MERRIMAN TOOK PLACE ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 22. It was one of our best webinars ever! Recordings are now available and offer valuable guidance on the long- and intermediate-term outlook for many markets, including stock indices, Bitcoin, T-Notes, Crude Oil, Soybeans, Gold, and especially Silver. Furthermore, this broadcast addressed this year’s two major geocosmic configurations and how they are impacting global geopolitics, national politics, the war cycle involving the U.S. (and other nations), the renaissance in technology, and the shift from autocratic leadership to more frequent nonviolent protests affecting large populations throughout the world. A look at the geocosmic calendar for 2026 outlines the most important geocosmic critical reversal dates and presents a scenario of where this is all leading in 2026. The webinar lasted slightly more than three hours. The cost of the recording is $60 and includes the PowerPoint slides. Order the Forecast 2026 webinar recording now while the information is still hot!

 NOTE 3: THE MMA DAILY OPTIONS REPORT WITH DEREK PANAIA has been performing extremely well, with recent successful trades involving Bitcoin (IBIT), Silver T-Notes, Crude Oil, and Soybeans. Subscribers who followed these strategies have more than paid for the cost of this new service. This new daily options service focuses on the S&P (still open), Gold, Copper, T-Notes, Soybeans, Bitcoin, ETFs, and other markets where special situations arise that may benefit from options strategies. The service includes intraday updates, sometimes multiple times per day, depending on market conditions. Ray Merriman also provides market timing commentary within this service. In fact, this is where Ray is spending most of his time discussing trading strategies in 2026 as they arise.

The cost is $360 per month or $3600 per year until June 30, when the special launch price will end. For those who already subscribe to the current MMA Daily Report, which is issued at the end of each trading day for the next trading day, the cost of adding Derek’s new Daily Options Report is only $140 extra per month. For more information on this new service, click here. Order now at the special launch price to get in on the action of options trading if you are an active trader!

NOTE 4: THE NEW MMA MONTHLY CRYPTO REPORT IS COMING!!! It will launch on the evening of Wednesday, April 8! Each report will cover a cyclical and macro overview by Gianni Di Poce on Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, XRP, and one other cryptocurrency that will change over time, depending on which are in greatest demand, starting with Cardano. Pouyan Zolfagharnia will then provide the geocosmic overview and explain how it ties into the cycles, using his stunning graphics.

How to trade cryptos other than through ETFs is a subject that will be covered in a special instructional webinar to take place at noon on the day of the launch (April 8). This FREE WEBINAR will also cover how to use this new monthly crypto report for maximum value. Ray Merriman will host this webinar, which will include Gianni, Pouyan, and MMA President Wyatt Fellows. The webinar is free, but you must sign up ahead of time to receive login instructions. An invitation will be sent shortly to everyone on the distribution list for this free weekly column. SAVE THE DATE — APRIL 8!!! You won’t want to miss this if you are interested in cryptos! Details coming shortly.

NOTE 5: THE (ORIGINAL) GOLD BOOK: GEOCOSMIC CORRELATIONS TO GOLD PRICE CYCLES is now available as an eBook. This was the first financial market-timing book written by Raymond Merriman (1982) that put financial astrology on the map. It was the first book to conduct formal quantitative research studies on any financial market in relation to planetary cycles (there were several earlier studies on lunar cycles, but none on planetary cycles and stations until this book). It brought together Wall Street and astrology and revolutionized the field of financial market timing by demonstrating the correlation between market cycles and planetary cycles as reversal signals. As a result, the topic became one of the most attended subjects at financial and astrology conferences worldwide in 1983. This classic book has been out of print since 1984, except as a collector’s item occasionally available through Amazon. It is now available as an eBook for the first time! 324 pages, $95. Click here to order.

 NOTE 6: THE JUPITER REPORT — YOUR MOMENTS OF OPPORTUNITY! The Jupiter Report is written by Raymond Merriman. It is a 30- to 40-page report that all traders (and even non-traders) will find highly valuable. It identifies the times during the year when Jupiter transits are highlighted in your natal chart and explains the meaning of Jupiter’s transits to your natal planets and angles over a 14-month period (including one month before your order date and one month after the year ends). As an added bonus, each transit is ranked on a scale from –3 to +3 in terms of favorability for trading. Traders may find this especially valuable! Would you like to know when you are under a +3 transit and therefore most likely to experience trading success? Or a –3 transit, with a stronger-than-usual potential for misjudgments and losses? The cost of a personal 14-month Jupiter Report based on your birth data is $69.

 NOTE 7: THE MMA SOLAR-LUNAR APP OFFERS REVERSAL SIGNALS FOR THE DJIA, NASDAQ, GOLD, AND SILVER. It is an ideal tool to have in your back pocket if you are a short-term swing trader looking for high-probability dates that identify isolated lows and highs in these markets. Please note that this should not be used as a standalone system. It works best as an adjunct tool when cycle lows or highs are due, when a market is in a technically overbought or oversold condition, or when it is exhibiting intermarket bullish or bearish divergence relative to a related market. The app is currently available only on Apple devices (iPhone and iPad). To learn more about the MMA app, click here. To order, go to the Apple App Store and search for Merriman Solar/Lunar Reversals.

 NOTE 8: RECORDINGS OF MMA’S SPECIAL SIX-WEEK COURSE ON “THE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF GEOCOSMIC STUDIES FOR FINANCIAL MARKET TIMING” ARE NOW AVAILABLE!!! Led by Gianni Di Poce and supported by Ray Merriman, this course is designed to teach students the basic principles of planets, signs, and aspects (including retrograde and direct stations) as used in MMA’s market-timing methodology — one of its most important tools. The course explains which planets and signs rule the various sectors of the economy and financial markets. In addition, it covers how to use an ephemeris and astrological software (Solar Fire) for important routines such as calculating charts, generating transit “hit lists,” and identifying signs, ingresses, planetary stations, and aspects — the essential cosmic features necessary for determining market reversal periods.

The course is especially useful for those interested in taking the two-year program offered by the Merriman Market Timing Academy or for anyone wishing to deepen their astrological knowledge. The cost for these six introductory lessons, each lasting about two hours, is $300. This is a great opportunity to learn basic astrology from a master economic astrologer! Click here to order now!

 NOTE 9: THE NEW AUDIOBOOK OF EVOLUTIONARY ASTROLOGY: THE JOURNEY OF THE SOUL THROUGH STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS, by Raymond Merriman, written in 1993, is now available! It is narrated by Thomas Miller, who has a great voice and also broadcasts MMA’s free weekly column. The first edition of Evolutionary Astrology, originally published in 1977, introduced this remarkable subject to the astrological community, where it has since become one of astrology’s major branches of study. Get ready to listen to the original work on Evolutionary Astrology that brought a spiritual perspective to the study of astrology from the late 1970s through today. To order the book (hardcover or eBook) or the audio recording, please click here.

 EVENTS

 APRIL 8, 2026: SPECIAL FREE WEBINAR ON HOW TO USE THE NEW MMA MONTHLY CRYPTO REPORT!!! Save the date!!! Starts at 2:00 PM, Eastern Time. Details for registering are coming soon.

 MAY 20–24, 2026: MMA’S NEXT INVESTMENT RETREAT, LAKE BLED, SLOVENIA. SAVE THE DATE!!

Registration is now open, with a special early-bird $600 discount for those who register by March 1. The presentations will also be available via Zoom for those unable to attend in person. The theme of this event will focus on market timing and trading, but there will also be coverage of longer-term cycles, with strategies for all! It’s going to be great!

JUNE 21, 2026: MMA’S ANNUAL MID-YEAR MARKETS UPDATE WEBINAR. Save this date, too!

SEPTEMBER 3, 2026: A UAC PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOP ON FINANCIAL ASTROLOGY BY RAYMOND MERRIMAN, 1:00–5:00 PM. This workshop will take place at the United Astrology Congress (UAC), the largest astrological conference in the world, which is held every four to eight years. More than 150 world-class astrologers will be presenting. The conference will be held at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Chicago. In addition to the workshop, Ray will present two lectures during the six-day event: one on mundane astrology, “What Is Happening in the World from an Astrological Viewpoint,” on September 5, and another, “The U.S. Stock Market: Timing Tools and Outlook,” on September 7 (Labor Day). For more information, visit www.uacastrology.com.

 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 of educating the reader on the relationship between astrological factors and collective human activities as they occur. 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 those movements 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, 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 cycle analyst looking at the military, political, economic, and 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 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) 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.