REVIEW AND PREVIEW
In the midst of a record second-quarter rally, (Jeffrey) Gundlach told Yahoo Finance that Wall Street’s recent out performance in the face of surging coronavirus infections was actually driven by what he dubs the “Super 6,” which consists of Facebook (FB), Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Alphabet (GOOGL), Netflix (NFLX), and Microsoft (MSFT). “Without the Super 6, there is no earnings growth in the United States stock market. There isn’t any for the past five years. If you take them out, there’s nothing,” Gundlach added. He estimated that earnings in the stock market were the equivalent to where they were in 2016, when the market was a third lower. “So, the fundamentals are completely out of sync with how the market has been manipulated.” – Julia LaRoche, “Why the Dollar and the Tech Rally are ‘Real Risks’ to Investors,” Yahoo Finance, July 6, 2020.
Confidence builds that the country’s economy is shaking off the coronavirus pandemic. The optimism has spurred mainland Chinese stocks to multiyear highs, with the Shanghai Composite rising 16.5% over eight straight sessions of gains through Thursday. – Chong Koh Ping, Xie Yu, and Joanne Chiu, “China Cautions Investors About Market Exuberance,” Wall Street Journal, July 10, 2020.
It was a week of returns and departures.
In China and the U.S., it is the return of irrational exuberance, and it is right on cue with the Sun moving into opposition to Jupiter early next week. This will be followed by the cosmic king of all matters pertaining to irrational exuberance – Jupiter and Neptune – returning for their second pass in a sextile aspect in two weeks. The first passage was on February 20, the exact date of the all-time high in the S&P, from whence all world stock markets came crashing down over the following month. Could it happen again? Well, the cause of that crash was the beginning of COVID-19 hysteria, and it is now returning with a vengeance in the U.S.. Many states and cities (and the country as a whole) are reporting record numbers of daily cases. The curve is not bending the right way here.
This is also a week of cosmic departures. Mercury retrograde, the “Trickster,” ends its current cycle and resumes its direct motion this Sunday, July 12. This was a particularly quirky period, with signs of divergences across the world. But for the next few weeks, issues are likely to become clearer – not necessarily easier or better, but clearer. We know the score and realize the fight is not over.
In Europe, the Netherlands AEX rallied to its highest mark on Monday, July 6 since the low of the crash in mid-March. The equity markets of German, England, and Switzerland made secondary highs then, but not new ones, for cases of intermarket bearish divergence. All declined into the end of the week.
In Asia and the Pacific Rim, the big story was China, where the Shanghai Composite continued its explosive rally to 3457 on Thursday, July 9, its highest level since February 2018. The Hang Seng and Indian Nifty indices rallied to their highest mark since the crash lows of March. But in Japan and Australia, the rallies were modest and peaked early in the week, followed by declines into the end of the week, for yet another example of intermarket bearish divergence.
The American indices also exhibited further cases of intermarket bearish divergence. The NASDAQ Composite soared to another new all-time high on Friday, July 10. The Bovespa of Brazil rallied to a new post-crash high as well on July 9. But the Dow Jones Industrial Average remained well off its post-crash high recorded back on June 8. It rallied or fell over 300 points on four of the five days last week, with no two consecutive days up or down. The Trickster was in classical whipsaw form, flashing first a technical buy signal and then immediately negating that for a technical sell signal, back and forth all week. His departure this week will be a cause for celebration to many, although the effects of his mishmash on financial markets may linger on for up to four days afterwards.
Gold and Silver had excellent weeks. Gold continued its meteoric rise to 1829.80 on July 8, its highest prices since September 19, 2011. Silver soared to 19.44, its highest price since September 4, 2019 when it reached 19.75. This is what happens when interest rates are zero and instability in world conditions persist, with the threat of new explosions or implosions developing (Mars is now in Aries).
All in all, it was a wild and crazy week, consistent with both the nature of Mercury ending its retrograde cycle, and the forthcoming triple solar oppositions of next week.
SHORT-TERM GEOCOSMICS
In both decisions, the courts rejected arguments from President Trump’s lawyers and the Justice Department that a president has immunity and privileges that put him completely beyond the reach of authorities seeking his documents or testimony. – Bryon Tau, “Ruling Cast Light on the Limits of Presidential Power,” Wall Street Journal, July 10, 2020.
It wasn’t a good week for President Trump, as the Supreme Court essentially ruled that he is not above the law while in office. And this closely followed excerpts from a new book to be released this week by his niece, Dr. Mary Trump (Psychologist), in which she reveals scores of disturbing revelations about the president’s character, family, and past. He tried to keep the book from being released, but he lost that battle too. He is not accustomed to losing and he lost several important battles last week. This is all related to the transit of Pluto in opposition to President Trump’s natal Venus and Saturn (damaging revelations about one’s past), as well as transiting Neptune forming a T-Square to his natal Sun and Moon (scandal). In the past, he has been to able to weather such storms. But this time Pluto is involved, and as stated many times before, no one escapes Pluto unscathed and untouched. Last week was a serious blow.
Yet, despite the personal setbacks for the president, the stock market didn’t crash, and the economic gains since the mid-March crash didn’t reverse– for now. That curve, however, could begin to bend with geocosmic signatures approaching the next two weeks.
The most important cosmic pattern looming ahead may be the triple solar oppositions of July 14-20. This is when the Sun will first form an opposition to Jupiter (July 14), followed by its opposition to Pluto (July 15), and finally its opposition to Saturn on the new moon of July 20. Each are Level 1 geocosmic signatures, which represent the highest correlation to primary or greater cycles within 10 trading days. In fact, the Sun/Jupiter and Sun/Saturn oppositions have a 50% historical rate of frequency to 50-week or greater cycles. That is a very high correlation of solar-planetary pair cycles to market cycles of this length. It means there is a chance that an important crest (or secondary crest) is now or may soon be forming.
The possibility of a sharp reversal in both the stock market and economy are also suggested in other charts. For instance, the Jupiter/Pluto/Saturn stellium in late Capricorn is making a T-square to the Jupiter/Neptune conjunction, opposite Saturn, in the New York Stock Exchange chart (“Buttonwood chart” of May 17, 1792). The transiting Sun joins this set up to form a Cardinal Grand Square in the next week. And in August, Mars will be squaring these same Capricorn stellium planets off and on through the end of the year. It’s like the wick of a stick of dynamic has been ignited and it may be just a matter of time before something explodes – unless someone can figure how to put the flame out first.
The “hero” in this cosmic drama may be Neptune, which is in sextile to Jupiter into mid-October, which furthermore means it can soften the blow of these other planets in hard aspect to Saturn and Pluto as well.
So, how does Neptune put out the threat of an explosion? Through behaviors that are the opposite of the fiery Sun and Mars triggering the Capricorn stellium planets. This will be interesting, because the explosion is more likely when the leader (Sun and Mars) loses control and threatens all those around him. The threat of an explosion is reduced when the leader exhibits Neptunian qualities, which include empathy, understanding, graciousness, and gentleness. These are not the defining qualities of the President, especially when he is under attack and fighting off one investigation after another. It looks like this will be a very difficult election season for Mr. Trump. All Joe Biden has to do is appear calm, understanding, and present himself as a unifier, someone who won’t add to the divisiveness of this country. Contrary to the comments of most political pundits, he may not have to have a plan or exhibit any great vision of what he will do in office. All he has to do is exhibit a contrast in character. Unlike in the past, I don’t think this election will be as much about the economy as people think. Nor will it be about policies and platforms. It may be more about the stress of the collective and who can reduce it. That’s what Mars in Aries, square to Jupiter, Pluto, and Saturn suggests. No stress, no loss.
But back to the markets. This is an important week astrologically. In fact, it is important for the next two weeks. Longer-term we are now also in a Martian period as of June 27 (Mars in Aries). It will be very active once it starts its square to the Capricorn stellium planets on August 4, which will remain in effect through the end of the year. With Mars, you get a lot of action and price movement in financial markets. As a trader, you are going to love this type of activity. There are likely to be many sharp moves that will transpire. The cosmos will give us a glimpse of that over these next ten days. This is a favorable time to those who like action, but a dangerous time to those who are reckless.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
NOTE 1: The MMA Monthly Cycles Report will come out this week, Monday-Tuesday. Every issue provides MMA’s outlook for the U.S. stock market (DJIA and S&P futures), Gold and Silver, Treasuries, Euro Currency, Crude Oil and Soybeans. Each issue also contains MMA’s original geocosmic critical reversal dates (CRDs) and Solar/Lunar reversal dates over the next several weeks for DJIA, Gold, and Silver, complete with trading strategies for position traders. If you are not a subscriber to the monthly MMA Cycles Report and wish a copy of our outlook for financial markets, consider a one-time-payment July Report for only $35.
NOTE 2: MMA will offer its second 2-year program of the Merriman Market Timing Academy beginning on October 24, 2020! This is the rare opportunity to learn the MMA Methodology of financial market timing and financial market analysis. The first course took place between 2013-2014 and graduated 20 apprentices, many of whom are now professional market analysts. Several of the graduates now serve as analysts of specific markets for various MMA subscription reports. This second 2-year program will be offered online and will be led by MMTA graduate Gianni Di Poce and founder Raymond Merriman. There will be 6-7 classes per course, 8 courses in all. Each class will last 2-3 hours each and cover 1-3 topics. These will take place live on Saturdays, and video recordings will be available the following Monday to those who register. There will be a one-month break between each course.
The cost for the 2-year program in 2013-2014 was $20,000 and required students to spend 3-4 day courses onsite in at the Michigan State University Management Center in Troy, Michigan. This second series of courses will be online, and will cost $12,000, with a 10% discount for those who register by September 20, 2020. To enroll for the “MMTA Apprentice,” designation, you will need to know how to read an ephemeris and/or take a pre-entrance exam to demonstrate this aptitude. If you don’t know how to “Read an Ephemeris,” a link to a video presentation will be provided at no cost to those who sign up for at least the first year.
A “MMTA Certificate of Graduation” (as an MMTA apprentice) will be awarded for those who take and pass exams at the end of each course and complete a research project with teams of three members each between courses. Courses may be taken separately, without an entrance exam, course exams, or research papers if one only wishes the knowledge without the certificate of graduation. For more information and schedule, please visit MMTA and find out how you can become a financial market timer and analyst, the MMA way.
NOTE 3: The Forecast 2021 Book will begin taking pre-publications orders on August 10. Our preliminary outlook is that 2021 may be just as dramatic as 2020. There will be changes this year, as every Forecast Book since 2010 has grown larger and larger and has taken more and more research and time to write. From a book size of 150-160 pages, it has steadily grown to 250 pages last year. The results have been impressive, but it was a challenge last year to complete the book on time. Thus, it is necessary to cut back on some features in order to finish in a timely manner. One of the sections that will not be included in this year’s annual Forecast Book will be the section on individual Sun Signs. That will save me about 2 weeks of work that can be used to write the main body of the book that addresses the world’s political, economic, and financial markets outlook. We are, however, developing a plan for a second publication for those who enjoy the yearly outlook for the individual signs. It will be written by Antonia Langsdorf-Merriman and myself. Antonia is one of Europe’s most renowned astrologers and has written an annual Sun Sign book in German for the past several years, based on interviews that she conducts with me beforehand. We will follow that same format in 2021, where she will interview me on the career and relationship outlook of each sun sign for the year ahead, and then she will write the text based on these views. We anticipate that this book will be just as popular here in the U.S. (and elsewhere) as it has been in Germany. Stay tuned for further announcements – and pre-publication sales – on Forecast 2021!
EVENTS
September 9-14, 2020: The ISAR 2020 Conference in Colorado on “Reimagining the Future.” The largest and most exciting international astrological conference taking place in 2020. With a faculty of over 100 of the world’s top astrologers from 25 different countries, and very dynamic tracks on Financial Astrology, Mundane and Political Astrology, and other topics, this is an event you will not want to miss.
Wednesday, September 9, 2020: Raymond Merriman will be conducting a 4-hour workshop on “Astrology and the Art of Financial Market Timing: How to Forecast Market Trends and Market Reversals.” This course will provide research studies showing the correlation of astrological factors to short- and longer-term financial market timing in stock markets, precious metals, and Bitcoin. It is the only workshop Ray plans to conduct in 2020.
Saturday, September 12, 2020: Raymond Merriman will be presenting a lecture on “The Times, They Are a Changin’ – The Political, Economic, and Monetary Revolution.” It’s not just the convergence of the 20-, 200-, and 800-year long-term Jupiter/Saturn cycles. It is also Saturn in Aquarius, squaring its ruler, Uranus, in Taurus. The convergence of the Jupiter/Saturn cycle in air sign Aquarius symbolizes the dawn of a new socio-economic-political era; the waning Saturn/Uranus square, the demise of an older order. What does this bode for financial markets of the world, and what can you do? We will discuss that in this lecture. Please note: This conference may be re-scheduled. The discussion to re-schedule or go online is underway and an announcement will be made by July 25.
September 17, 2020: Special Q&A webinar for MMA Subscribers with Raymond Merriman! 4:30 PM, EDT or 1:30 PM PDT 9:30 PM GMDT). This webinar is free to those who subscribe to any MMA subscription reports, or $55 if not a subscriber. Subscribers may send in a question they wish Merriman to address ahead of time. The only requirement is that the questions be of general interest to everyone attending the Q&A. Questions about a specific market are fine. It is possible that there may not be enough time to address all questions, so they will be answered on a first come, first serve basis. This event will last 90 minutes. You must register to attend at least two days before the event and a link to enter the meeting will be sent to all registrants that week. More information coming soon!
October 24, 2020: The first class of the 2-year program of the Merriman Market Timing Academy begins! For details, see the above announcement, or visit MMTA.
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 a 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 hence potentially affect 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.