REVIEW AND PREVIEW
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is nosediving again on Friday following another Federal Reserve decision to hike interest rates. – Joe Toppe, “Dow Nosedives as Traders Continue Selloff on Fed Hike,” www.foxbusiness.com, December 16, 2022.
The Sun/Neptune square has a strong correlation to reversals in the DJIA within four trading days. Like all aspects with Neptune, this one too can correspond with hopes and wishes about the future of equity prices. However, if it corresponds with a high, or secondary high to the crest of December 1-2, it could lead to a sharp reversal down into and beyond the Jupiter/Uranus semi-square of December 23. – Last week’s column.
Sure enough, the U.S. and many other world stock indices topped out last week, December 13-14, and began a nosedive as the cosmos shifts from Neptune’s “irrational exuberance” to the more chaotic Jupiter/Uranus theme that culminates next week.
The DJIA, for instance, peaked at 34,712 on December 13, its highest level since April, and up 21% from its yearly low of 28,660 on October 13. By Friday, just three trading days lower, it had declined to a low of 32,654, a decline of over 2000 points and nearly 6%. This fits with our studies reported in The Ultimate Book on Stock Market Timing, Volume 3: Geocosmic Correlations to Trading Cycles. Those studies showed a 78% rate of frequency to 4% or greater reversals in the DJIA within 4 trading days of the Sun/Neptune waning square. Monday will be the fourth day.
It was also interesting to note that when Fed Chair Powell spoke on December 14, transiting Mars retrograde was conjunct with the FRB natal Saturn at 13° Gemini, which is also in opposition to the Fed’s natal Mercury at 13° Sagittarius. The Fed was indeed stuck in a manner associated with that aspect. That is, if it acted too aggressively (Mars), it would risk injury or accident. If it behaved too conservatively (Saturn), it would risk criticism for being too slow to act. Mars/Saturn is an aspect of frustration because you can’t easily do what you want to do in the time that you want to do it. It indicates delays and danger if you continue to push too hard. So, the Fed did pull back to a .5% rate hike, down from the prior hikes of .75%. But then it also warned there were more hikes to come, which frustrated the investment community which suddenly spoke out that these rate hikes would lead the U.S. (and the world) into a recession. Of course, coming on the heels of Neptune’s two-week binge into fantasyland, many of the same analysts had purported there would be no recession ahead. It was therefore a week typical of Neptune fog, but also typical of Mars/Saturn frustration on the part of the Fed, in that they can’t seem to get the inflation trend quickly to where they want. The longer this continues, the more likely it will lead to a recession, or maybe worse. Maybe we don’t see the light at the end of this rate-hike tunnel until after Mars makes its third and final passage past the FRB Saturn, which will be Valentine’s Day, 2023. Or maybe it takes until late March when Mars finally leaves Gemini for the next two years.
Gold and Silver also had sudden and sharp reversals from their recent rallies. Gold soared to a new cycle high of 1836.90 on December 13, its largest rally of the year following its 16-month cycle trough of 1618.30 on November 3. Silver was even more impressive, rising to 24.39 on December 13, up smartly from its yearly low of 17.40 on September 1. But both fell sharply after that, with Gold down to 1782 and Silver to 22.73 by Friday. Bitcoin followed the same pattern. It reached a new 5-week high of 18,370 on Wednesday, December 14. But by Friday, it had fallen back as low as 16,744. The test to Bitcoin’s longer-term cycle lows is again underway.
In summation, we can say that the cosmic climate is chaos and confusion. We are moving from confusion (Neptune) back into chaos (Uranus). It may take a couple of weeks to sort it all out. But first, we have another bout with Mercury retrograde, the Trickster, looming on the horizon.
SHORT-TERM GEOCOSMICS
The message to financial markets is that global monetary policy is going to get appreciably tighter, after Mr. Powell delivered a hawkish message Wednesday. The main exceptions are the Bank of Japan, which is hopeless, and possibly the Bank of England, which is hapless… All of this heralds much tighter global financial conditions to come, which no doubt contributed to Thursday’s sharp selloff in equities. “A World of Tighter Money,” Editors, Wall Street Journal, December 16, 2022.
Scientists announced Tuesday that they have for the first time produced more energy in a fusion reaction that was used to ignite it – a major breakthrough in the decades-long quest to harness the process that powers the Sun… unlike other nuclear reactions, it doesn’t create radioactive waste. – Matthew Daly, Michael Phillis, Jennifer McDermott, and Maddie Burakoff, “Fusion Breakthrough Could be Game-Changer,” Associated Press, December 14, 2022.
It’s the end-of-the-year holiday season. However, there is no vacation for the cosmos as it readies for a slew of interesting planetary signatures. On Tuesday, December 20, Jupiter will exit its last passage through Pisces for this cycle and begin its final lap through Aries until May 16. It then enters the lush and fertile sign of Taurus for the next year. As it approaches Aries next week, the guns of war start up again from Russia towards Ukraine. The equity prices of weapons manufacturers may rally. But that could change after May when the world has grown tired of it all and wants to get serious about two of the prime values of Taurus: safety and security.
On December 21, the winter solstice takes place as the Sun ingresses into Capricorn, always a time for deep reflection, such as “What are we doing? Where are we going? What do we want to do differently in the next year?” One of the things to do differently will be changing the dynamics of war, but it will be a longer process than wished for unless new rules and laws are created. I think there will be.
The next two days will find Sun square Jupiter, Venus trine Uranus, and Jupiter in semi-square to Uranus. It’s the chaos of Uranus receiving that semi-square from the exaggerative Jupiter (in two aspects) that is driving the market this week. The two together have a knack for breaking down support and/or resistance in exaggerated moves.
The inability of the markets to respect support and resistance continues to another level when the “Trickster” – Mercury retrograde – returns December 29-January 18. Just six days before it turns direct, Mars will end its retrograde motion on January 12, followed by Uranus doing the same on January 22. That is destined to be a wild period for financial markets, and likely a time of sharp market reversals from whatever trends are underway at the time.
Yet there is something exciting about the forthcoming Uranus signatures of December 22 through January 22, and even more so when Pluto enters Aquarius (Uranus’ home sign) on March 23. We got a glimpse of this with last week’s announcement about the breakthrough in the quest to harness fusion energy. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: as Uranus enters Gemini and trines Pluto in Aquarius in 2025-2026, while at the same time Saturn and Neptune enter Aries and sextiles both Uranus and Pluto, the world has an opportunity to commence a renaissance, a revolution in communications that propels humanity into a bright new future. It may be the crossing point between humanity’s reliance on fossil fuels and the emergence of new applications of alternative energies that benefit the environment and humankind in a myriad of new ways we can only imagine today. Yes, as discussed last week and in the Forecast 2023 Book, we will be on parallel paradigm tracks between war and destruction versus innovation, new scientific and extraterrestrial discoveries, and creativity. One paradigm will likely lead to the awareness of the urgent need for the other.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
NOTE 1: FORECAST 2023 is completed and the eBook (English) version was sent out last week. It’s early! We are now pleased to announce that the print edition has also been released as of Thursday, December 15, on time! And we have to say: this year’s book may be the best one yet. Each year gets better and better.
The price for the printed edition of Forecast 2023 is $66 as long as supplies last. Last year’s book sold out, so order now before they are gone. There will be no additional printings. And the price for the eBook edition will remain $55, and will continue to be available even if the printed edition sells out.
AND NEW – An Abridged Edition of Forecast 2023 will be available via eBook and Audiobook on Amazon.com this year! This shortened edition will sell for $15.00 and will include all chapters except the financial markets and the calendar/ephemeris pages in the back of the annual book, or about half the size of the full edition. In other words, the abridged edition will include the 8 chapters on the Mundane Astrological outlook for the year (and the next 5 years) based on the long-term planetary cycles and their historical themes over the past several centuries. It will also include the retrograde time bands of Mercury, Venus, and Mars and their importance in 2023, as well as projections for each of the seasons in 2023 based on their cardinal ingress charts. Doing an Abridged Edition of the Forecast Book at a very affordable price in eBook and especially audio format is something new for MMA, and an excellent choice for those who enjoy listening to books while driving, walking, or working out. The narrator is Thomas Miller, the well-known astrologer and podcast host of “Fun Astrology” (but it is also serious astrology, at https://funastrology.com). Thomas has an excellent voice from years in radio broadcasting. The Forecast 2023 Abridged Edition in eBook is now available through Amazon, and the audiobook is expected to be available on Amazon next week.
This year’s printed and eBook versions of the full Forecast 2023 Book 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/
NOTE 2: Each foreign translation of Forecast 2023 has a section on that nation’s stock market that is not in the English or other nations’ Forecast Book. Yet we are aware that some readers and investors may be interested in the stock markets of these other nations, but do not wish those editions in the other nation’s language. Therefore, we make those stock market outlooks available in English as a separate service for $35.00 each. The overseas market reports for 2023 that are available separately in English include: Japan’s Nikkei, China’s Shanghai Composite, and the German DAX plus Zurich SMI indices. Each is available in PDF format. Each report is about 9-11 pages, with their monthly charts as of November 2022, and a list of their critical reversal dates for 2023.
NOTE 3: Trends for the Twelve Signs 2023 is now available at Amazon.com as an eBook in English and German!!! Click here to order from Amazon. And soon (next week. we think), it will also be available as an audiobook via Amazon.com, narrated by Thomas Miller! There are a lot of excellent sun sign books available each year. However, we don’t think you will find a more insightful and well-thought out book dedicated to the yearly trends for the twelve individual sun signs than this one. It is, in our opinion, the finest of all the 2023 sun sign books. Period. The book, Trends for the Twelve Signs 2023, is written by Antonia Langsdorf-Merriman and Raymond Merriman and is also available directly through MMA, print or eBook edition. The format of this year’s book covers the outlook for health, relationships, business, career, finances, and overall psychological factors of each sign for the year. It includes specific birthdates that are affected by the major geocosmic transits within and to each sign. The cost of this unique book is $30 (eBook versus print edition), with a further discount if ordered together with the Forecast 2023 Book. For more information, check out this video of Alie and Ray opening the boxes of Trends for 2023 that just arrived!
NOTE 4: THE DECEMBER ISSUE OF THE MMA Monthly Cycles Report was released last week! This was a special issue because it contained an update of the 4-year stock market cycle – where we are and what to look for next year. This was also another very important market timing period for many financial markets because of the December 23 Jupiter/Uranus semi-square, which we correctly discussed as a bearish indicator following the Neptune aspects of December 1-14. Every issue provides an intermediate-term investors’ and near-term traders’ outlook for the U.S. stock market, Gold, Silver, Copper, 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 during the next month. If you are not a subscriber to the monthly MMA Cycles Report and would like a copy of MMA’s outlook for financial markets, consider trying the December issue for only $35. For an additional $20, you can also receive the next issue, due in two weeks, of the MMA Monthly Cycles Report Plus+ edited by Pouyan Zolfagharnia, which has become a very popular addition to the MMA Cycles Report (less technical, more visual, high-quality analysis and update on MMA Cycles Report markets). And by ordering this month’s issue, you will also receive the transcript of the recent very interesting interview with Radio Tokyo and Ray (see the next note below).
NOTE 5: TUNE INTO MMA’S WEEKLY YouTube Channel on the geocosmic climate related to financial markets hosted by MMTA Educational Director Gianni Di Poce. 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.
EVENTS
January 6, 2023, 8 PM EST: MMA CHINA WEBINAR FORECAST 2023 WEBINAR! Financial markets review for the China SSE stock index, Gold, Crude Oil, DJIA. and Bitcoin. Topics to be covered will include the four most highlighted geocosmic time bands for trend reversal through July for many financial markets; the importance of the outer planets changing signs 2023-2025; the significance of Pluto crossing the Jupiter/Saturn “supercharged degree” 5 times in 2023-2024; war versus Renaissance cycles coming up; plus the financial markets listed above and questions asked by participants ahead of time. Send your questions to customerservice@mmacycles.com. Cost is $55. Understand that this will be a 2-3-hour webinar and will include translation into Chinese from English. You will hear both languages (English first, then Chinese). To register, click here.
February 19, 2023, 1:15 PM EST: The Annual Worldwide Webinar and Address on Forecast 2023 with Raymond Merriman. Save the Date! Starts at 11;15 AM, MST, which is 1:15 PM EST, 6:15 PM GMT, 7:15 PM CET. It will be very early in the morning in Australia, Beijing and Tokyo. In the comfort of your own home or office, you can tune into Raymond Merriman’s annual worldwide Forecast 2023 Webinar. This broadcast will address themes from this year’s Forecast 2023 book, with updates on financial markets since the book was written in November 2022, including the U.S. stock market, Gold, Silver, Crude Oil and Bitcoin. Cost is $55.00, and includes the slides of the presentation, plus access to the video recording of the event. Questions will be answered that are submitted one week before the event if they are deemed of interest to the overall audience. If unable to attend live, the video recording will be available the following day. To register, click here.
March 18, 2023: The third MMTA (Merriman Market Timing Academy) since 2013 will commence. This two-year educational and training experience will change your life and how you view financial markets. With this course you will know where the market is at any given interval of time, and the trading or investing strategy to employ. These 8 courses consist of 6-7 zoom meetings (100+ hours of live instruction and interaction with instructors Ray Merriman and Gianni di Poce, including review and preview of current markets each session) over a two-year period, on Saturdays, with 1-2 month breaks in between each course. That is, you will be in 2-hour Saturday sessions 24-25 weeks/year, over a two year period (March 2023-September 2024), plus one additional voluntary review session for each test after every course. There is nothing else as comprehensive in the field of market timing as this program is available anywhere. It covers our market timing methodology for long-term and intermediate-term investing, plus position and aggressive short-term trading. Please note: This will be the last course 2-year MMTA program taught by Ray Merriman. Watch for details soon on cost, discounts for early application, and how to enroll. Applications for enrollment will begin January 18 and will be limited to 40 full-time students (last time we had to turn applicants away), which will include an interview prior to acceptance. Below are just a couple of the many comments received from MMTA 2 graduates. More to come.
“My perspective on the markets, and perhaps life, have changed dramatically since being gifted the privilege of joining MMTA2. I am extremely grateful for having been given the opportunity to learn directly from you.” – Kyle M, MMTA2 graduate, North Carolina, programmer, trader, and high school math teacher.
“Attached is my final research project on the cotton market…as always critiques are welcomed!! Doing these research projects and really dissecting the cotton market during this course has allowed me to trade cotton very successfully over the last year. It is extremely rewarding to do the work and then to watch it unfold according to plan.” – Wyatt F, Wisconsin, MMTA2 graduate, Owner of large family farm operation, and now as MMA analyst.
”Thank you for all your help through MMTA2, it was one of the best things I have ever done.” – Renato R, Australia, MMTA graduate.
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.