Astrology: Ray Merriman - MMA Weekly Stock Report

Most stock indices around the world continued their previous week’s rally into Wednesday of this past week. And then the “Sagittarius Factor” hit Thursday and Friday, and prices begin a substantial decline to end the week on dangerous ground as we head into next week’s important geocosmic signatures. As stated previously, “But an important geocosmic period commences… February 25 through March 7, when the Sun will form an opposition to Saturn and end with a conjunction to Uranus. In essence, this is yet another period of a faster moving body translating the more important slower moving aspect. The Sun is translating the Saturn-Uranus opposition of later this year, and hence February 25-March 7 may offer a glimpse of what to expect from November 2008 through July 2010 when that Saturn-Uranus opposition is in effect.” In typical Uranian fashion, these financial markets either made a sudden and unexpected reversal, or in the case of currencies and commodities, they continued to skyrocket to new all-time highs.

Many stock indices soared to their highest levels in six weeks by Wednesday of last week, following the Sun-Saturn opposition of February 24-25. This was the case with the Netherlands AEX and London FTSE in Europe. But it was not matched with new monthly highs in either the German DAX or Swiss Stock Index, for a case of regional intermarket bearish divergence. New 6-week highs were noted in the Nikkei of Japan, but not in the other stock indices of Asia and the Pacific Rim (Australia’s All Ordinaries, India’s Nifty Index or Hang Seng of Hong Kong) for yet another case of intermarket bearish divergence. In the U.S.A., last Wednesday’s high was a double top to the high in early February, but in the case of the NASDAQ Composite, it was far off, for yet a third case of this bearish divergent pattern. Thus it sets up a dangerous chart pattern for next week, especially as we move fully into this translation of the Sun to the forthcoming Saturn-Uranus opposition.

But the big stories were again in commodities. Crude Oil made another slightly higher new all-time high at 103.05 on Friday. Gold soared to another a new all-time high of 977 on Friday. Silver soared close to 2000 ($20.00/ounce) for the first time in 27 years. Many currencies made new all-time against the U.S. Dollar, with Euro well above 1.5000 for the first time, and the Swiss Franc almost at par with the U.S. Dollar now. Soybeans and Wheat both soared to new all-time highs last week, topping out at $15.24/bushel and $13.00/bushel respectively. Who says prices aren’t rising? Yes, it is true in regards to home prices, and wages are staying fairly stable. But the cost of raw goods is soaring, and has been since 2001, when the Saturn-Pluto cycle topped out (opposition). As stated so many times before in this column, the opposition to the conjunction (2001-2020) is the time when commodities do well, and stocks go all over the place, but mostly down. The stocks haven’t really stayed down for long yet, because we still have the Saturn-Uranus opposition to go through, November 2008 through July 2010. Burt we are getting the picture of what to expect then with the transiting faster moving bodies when they translate by hard aspect to the Saturn-Uranus opposition, as we are seeing now, and as we saw in January when Venus did similar. As stated last week, “Of course there will be mini-bear and bull markets within this long-term 32-37 year cycle. But basically the cycles goes like this: economic prosperity and favorable investment environment from the conjunction to opposition (1982-2001), versus commodity inflation and economic struggles from opposition to conjunction (2001-2020).

This could be a very dangerous week for many markets. In addition to the Sun translating the opposition to Saturn and conjunction with Uranus there are other powerful forces at work that should be of interest to all Financial Astrologers. As stated last week, “Mars will also cross the 0 degree Cancer point on March 4. Historically that is a period when central banks make critical changes or announcements in their interest rate policies, which in turn affect Treasuries and currency prices, and by association, also precious metals and stock markets.” And then also, “On March 4, heliocentric Mercury will also enter Sagittarius through March 17. This is a period that has a very high correlation to sharp price swings in many markets, especially precious metals and currencies. With heliocentric Mercury in Sagittarius at the same time as the new moon in Pisces conjunct Uranus around March 7, it could be a very dramatic time coming up.”

So here we are. Fasten your seat belts again. It could get very turbulent into next Friday, And that is also the day that the Federal Reserve will release its very important Unemployment and Payroll Reports.

The Saturn-Uranus opposition takes place for the first of five passages right on Election Day, November 4, 2008, in the United States. It is certainly shaping up into a classical representation of these two planets. On the Uranian side, you have the Democrats, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, who each rep[resent a “first” – either the first African American or first female potential president. That’s Uranian. On the other side, you have John McCain, who would be the oldest person to assume presidency if elected. That’s Saturn, which represents age and experience – and also the Establishment (but Hillary could be viewed as The Establishment too… she could be Saturn and Uranus).

This election is particularly challenging to me – and I suspect most astrologers. The candidates to be selected fit just fine with the principles of Mundane Astrology. In fact, they fit exceeding well. It is easy to define who is who by planetary symbology. But it is not so easy to choose who will win, for with Uranus, anything can happen, and surprises are more than likely the order of the day. As an extreme, under this signature, there can be no certainty that the candidates selected to represent their parties even make it to election or inauguration day. Something disruptive is always a possibility, especially with Saturn and Uranus in hard aspect, complemented by Pluto about to move back into Capricorn at that time (November 26, which is between election day and inauguration). I am not predicting assassination, for these symbols can mean many things. But the last time Saturn and Uranus were in opposition, and Pluto was involved, was in the mid-1960’s. Both political and racially-motivated assassinations stung the USA deeply during that time. At the very least, we must at least hope that these candidates have adequate protection, and are not harmed. And that is why I state this possibility in this column. It is not with the wish to “be right,” but instead to diffuse the energy of this possibility, for in metaphysics, we know that if you want something to have power and grow, you keep it within yourself. If you want to diffuse the energy, you bring it out into the open. We have a very exciting and highly energized process taking place in the United States at this time. The youth – and representatives of several demographic groups – are more involved in this election than ever before. That too is consistent with Saturn in opposition to Uranus. And when you have such “new” involvement involving such “first-time” things, it can disrupt the status quo, and this become a very dangerous situation. Bit as we also learn in metaphysics, danger and opportunity go together. Let’s hope safety is not forsaken in this amazing time we are living, and circumstances (people) allow these cycles to unfold in a natural manner.

The new “SOS Global Market Cycles Report” will come out this week, March 6 (March 5 for email subscribers in English). And it will be out one day later in German to our German SOS subscribers (please go to www.mma-europe.de in to order the German version of SOS). This SOS monthly report will address the long- and intermediate-term cycles that affect all world markets, but specifically through the history of the U.S. stock market, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average. It is the “big picture” ahead, like where we are in terms of the 18- and 4-year cycles. It will then give an overview (and projection) of the shorter cycles (primary and its phases) of the German DAX, Netherlands AEX, the Australian All Ordinaries, Hang Seng of Hong Kong, National Stock Exchange (NSE) of India, the NASDAQ Composite Index, and the XAU Gold and Silver Mining index. The German edition will soon give analysis also of the Swiss Market Index (SMI). For ordering information, please go to http://www.mmacycles.com/catalogue/services/the-sos-stock-market-cycles/.

If you are an active short-term trader, you may be interested in our Weekly or even Daily Market reports with short-term trading recommendations. It is the only way I keep in touch with traders on a daily or even weekly basis. These reports give in-depth analysis of the DJIA, S&P and NASDAQ futures, Euro currency (cash and futures), Swiss Franc, Dollar/Yen cash and Yen futures, T-Notes, Corn, Soybeans, Wheat, Gold and Silver. The daily reports cover all stock indices listed above, as well as futures in Euro, T-Notes, Soybeans, Gold and Silver. Subscription to the daily report also includes the weekly report. For more information, go to http://www.mmacycles.com/services, or call our offices at 1-248-626-3034. In the words of one of our subscribers: “I recently subscribed to your weekly report and am finding it to be excellent and a very useful companion to the MMA Cycles Report. I can't imagine now managing my investments without them.”

On April 12-13, 2008, I will be giving two special presentations in San Diego, CA. On Friday evening, April 12, I will give a lecture on "Political and Economic Cycles for 2008-2012.” On Saturday, April 13, I will give a six-hour workshop on "Introduction to Financial Astrology." This workshop will explain the methods for financial market timing that I use. It will cover the U.S. stock market, interest rates, and precious metals markets, both historically as well as the projection of future trends and reversals using this method of forecasting. For further information, contact Gayla Pierce at (619) 654-1265, or kalypso@earthlink.net.

The German version of “Merriman on Market Cycles: The Basics” is now in print. It is also a revision of the earlier work in English. For more information on this book, please go to our German web site at www.mma-europe.de.

Disclaimer and statement of purpose:

The purpose of this column is not to predict 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 oftentimes report 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 will likely affect human activity in the times to come. The author (Merriman) will do this from a perspective of a cycle’s 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 these psychological dynamics that underlie (or coincide with) the news events and hence financial markets of the day.

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 assume any responsibility at all for those individual decisions. Reader should understand that futures and options trading are considered high risk.

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