Note: There will be no weekly column next week due to travel. We will return the following week.
REVIEW AND PREVIEW:
Stocks fell from all-time highs on Friday after the release of stronger jobs data dampened hope for easier Federal Reserve monetary policy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average pulled back 43.88 points to 26,922.12, snapping a four-day winning streak. The S&P 500 slipped 0.2% to 2,990.41 and ended a five-day winning streak. The Nasdaq Composite fell for the first time in seven sessions, slipping 0.1% to 8,161.79. Earlier in the session, the Dow dropped as much as 232.67 points… The U.S. economy added 224,000 jobs in June. Economists had forecast the U.S. added 165,000 jobs in June, after a stunningly low 75,000 jobs were created in May, according to Dow Jones. – Fred Imbert, “Stocks Fall From Record Highs After Strong Jobs Report Dampen Hope of a Fed Rate Cut,” https://www.cnbc.com, July 5, 2019.
Despite a lack of strong geocosmic aspects last week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P index soared to new all-time highs, thus fulfilling the historical correspondence between Jupiter’s 12-year transit of Sagittarius and long-term cycle crests in world equity markets. However, the NASDAQ Composite fell slightly short of a new-time high. It rallied to 8171 on Friday, just shy of its record of 8176 on April 29.
There were similar divergences in other regions of the world. In Europe, for example, the Zurich SMI made an all-time high on July 3. The next day, the Amsterdam AEX, German DAX, and London FTSE raced to their highest levels since August 2018, but not new all-time highs.
The Australian ASX index soared to 6850 on Friday, July 5, very close to its all-time high of 6873 made in November 2007. But none of the Asian indices could even make a new high for 2019 last week, as trade tensions with the USA remain a depressant on their economies.
After posting a new 6-year high on June 25 at 1442.90, Gold fell sharply to start this new week of July 1 at 1384.70. Two days later, it was back up, testing that 6-year high, reaching 1441 on July 3. By the next trading day, which was Friday, July 5, the strong payroll report caused jitters about the possibility of no Fed rate cut, and Gold dropped back to 1388.60. That was some serious price reversals last week as heliocentric Mercury began its trek through Sagittarius, the sign of exaggeration. Bitcoin didn’t fare much better, dropping from its yearly high of 13,895 on June 26 to 9567 on July 2, and then beginning another recovery. In addition to heliocentric Mercury in Sagittarius coinciding with such currency and precious metals’ volatility, geocentric Mercury ended its transit through Cancer the week before on June 29. Our studies show that Mercury in Cancer correlates with highs in Bitcoin. With Mercury turning retrograde now, it will return back into Cancer July 19-August 11. It will be interesting to see if Bitcoin can make another run during that time.
SHORT-TERM GEOCOSMICS AND LONGER-TERM THOUGHTS
Ever since the world left the gold standard, a die-hard band of goldbugs has demanded the U.S. return. President Trump just said he intends to nominate one of them, Judy Shelton, to be a Federal Reserve governor… When all counties were on gold, it made exchange rates stable and predictable. Without it, (goldbugs) argue, governments can goose the currency printing press to create jobs or wage wars. – Greg Ip, “Fed Pick is Goldbug Who Bends to Fit Trump,” Wall Street Journal, July 5, 2019.
There may have been an absence of planetary aspects last week, but that only means the likelihood of a reversal of the underlying trend was small. The fact that stock markets moved to new all-time highs, and the Gold market was all over the place (first down, then up, then back down) has more to do with heliocentric Mercury in Sagittarius, which has a reputation for being wild. Some financial astrologers may attribute the strong market movements of last week to the solar eclipse last Tuesday, July 2. However, that is not as strong a historical correlation to the types of market behavior witnessed last week as heliocentric Mercury’s ingress into Sagittarius, July 1-12. We have another week to go with this culprit.
Mercury may be more of a culprit now than usual. Often refereed to as a “Trickster,” Mercury begins his three-week retrograde motion on Friday, July 7. Mercury is, by nature, very clever and changeable. But when retrograde, he is a lot more like the Roadrunner, first making a fierce dash one way, then abruptly changing direction and moving sharply the opposite way. In its retrograde period, no level of support or resistance is solid, and no technical indicator completely reliable. This may be due to retrograde Mercury’s correspondence to “fake outs.” That is, it may break resistance, giving the impression that the low is in and the market is going to go higher. But shortly after giving such a buy signal, the market may turn right around and take out support. But that too quickly ends in a “fake out,” as prices reverse right back up again with little warning. This type of market activity is usually in response to conflicting signals generated by political announcements and economic reports. Expect to see contradictory news items for most of this month. As a trader, you have a choice: be very nimble and short-term oriented, or stand aside until the noise stops.
Speaking of which, there may be a lot of noise the next two weeks. Both the Sun and Venus are transiting through the sign of Cancer, and both will form oppositions to Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn, July 9-21. This is already a formation indicative of conflicts, and involves perhaps the most conflicted sign of the zodiac, which is Cancer (that’s an observation, not a proven fact, that individuals with strong Cancer planets tend to frequently get caught up in conflict-of-interest dramas and not even know why). Thus, this Mercury retrograde cycle may be more intense, sensitive, and confusing than most (and most are already a little confusing due to their correspondence to contradictory messages). It will be an interesting time to watch President Trump, who is a Mercury-ruled Gemini native, to see how he (how all Geminis) handles the Mercury retrograde tendency to get off message this month, to get sidetracked by small annoyances that could easily morph into a mountain or volcano of misunderstanding. It may also be an interesting time to see his detractors attempt to (and probably succeed) “get under his skin,” as we say in America.
In terms of markets, whenever we see Venus and Pluto involved in aspects to other planets or to each other in the same period of time (as occurs July 9-21), issues of debt and taxes seem to become more newsworthy. This, in turn, affects markets related to debt, like treasuries and currencies (such as the U.S. Dollar). Also, we have this rule: any market that declines into a hard aspect between Venus and Saturn, is a candidate to start a rally. Hence, we will be watching this time band very closely for excellent trading opportunities. Or not. After all, Mercury is retrograde, which is not generally a favorable time for position trading, as discussed earlier. Here, you can already see a conflict of signals developing (astrological) related to Mercury, the Trickster, turning retrograde. Better check and re-check any decisions to be made during the month. Make sure you have all your facts correct and enough information to make an informed decision. And also make sure you have an escape route in the event that you change your mind.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
NOTE 1: The new International Cycles Reports from MMA are out as of Tuesday!!! MMA expanded its International Cycles Report (ICR) into two reports… ICR Financials and ICR Commodities. Each report covers 7 markets.
ICR Financials:
Cost: $325/ Year
Markets Covered: ASX (Australian Stock Index), RUT (Russell 2000), SSE (Chinese Shanghai Stock Composite), HSI (Hang Seng Index), AUD (Australian Dollar), DXY (US Dollar), and GBP (British Pound)
First Release Date: Tuesday July 2, 2019
ICR Commodities:
Cost: $325/ Year
Markets Covered: LC (Live Cattle), MJ (Cannabis), XAU (Gold and Silver), KT (Coffee), KA (Sugar), C (Corn), and W (Wheat)
First Release Date: Wednesday July 3, 2019
NOTE 2: THE MMA CYCLES 2020 VISION WEBINAR SERIES is over, but the MP4 recordings are now available. This live 2-hour webinar, “RE-FOCUS YOUR INVESTMENT STRATEGIES: ALL CYCLES LEAD TO 2020” was led by MMA Analyst Kat Powell. It featured an in-depth look at longer-term cycles, trend patterns, and price targets for Silver and Soybeans, with additional insights provided on the U.S. stock market and Federal Reserve Board chart. Cost for the MP4 recording is $45.00 and includes PDF charts. Order now while it is fresh!
NOTE 3: MMA’s Daily and Weekly subscription reports are the best way to keep up with rapidly changing markets! 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 will be interested in MMA’s Weekly or Daily Market reports. The Weekly reports give an 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, Swiss Franc, T-Notes, Soybeans, Crude Oil, Gold and Silver, and Bitcoin. The Daily reports cover all stock indices listed above, as well as the Euro Currency, Japanese Yen, Bitcoin, 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 and shorter-term aggressive traders. Subscription to the Daily report also includes the Weekly report.
NOTE 4: The new MMA website is up! It looks great and works even better. Our website address will remain the same. However, if ordering any products or services, you will need to establish a new username and password with the new site. Please visit our new website and register on the right side of the page with your email address and create a password. Once you have registered, you will receive a confirmation email with a special coupon code for a future purchase as a thank you for creating your account with us!
“Your new website is gorgeous — and it’s wonderful — just how your website should look!” – Diane Western, the most talented instructional graphics designer that we know of. If you have seen the Forecast webinars, with the stunning power point slides, then you have seen an example of her work.
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.