MMA COMMENTS FOR WEEK BEGINNING JUNE 15, 2009

Raymond A. Merriman ©

Review and Preview

            Since our last column two weeks ago, many of the world indices have gradually risen to new multi-month highs. In Asia and the Pacific Rim, new highs were noted late last week in Australia’s All Ordinaries, India’s Nifty, Japan’s Nikkei, and the Hang Seng Index of Hong Kong. By far, this section of the world experienced the most bullish equity markets. In the United States, both the NASDAQ Composite and the Dow Jones Industrial Average posted new cycle highs last Thursday. However, the same was not true in Europe where the German DAX and Netherlands AEX could not take out their highs of June 2 and June 3. Likewise the rallies in Switzerland’s SMI index and London’s FTSE index could not even exceed their highs of May. By far, the European markets were the weakest of the world equity indices that we track.

 

            Like the European equity markets, Gold and Silver posted rallies last week that failed to take out their highs of the first week in June. In fact, precious metals fell sharply last week, as the U.S. Dollar posted gains. Crude Oil soared to a new high for 2009 when it touched 73.23 on Thursday, representing a gain of 125+% since its lows of December. That new high is happening as we enter the middle of the time band of the first two out of three passages of the Jupiter-Neptune conjunction, in effect May 27 through July 10. Jupiter and Neptune co-rule Pisces, the sign of Crude Oil.

 

Short-Term Geocosmics

 

            The huge run up in precious metals and currencies against the U.S. Dollar ended June 2 and 3, right after the transit of heliocentric Mercury in Sagittarius ended. As stated in our last column of two weeks ago (written May 29), “If the correlation to this strong surge was heliocentric Mercury in Sagittarius, then any market that has rallied sharply since May 19 may be in for a rude fall in the next ten days, as this planet will now enter the more sobering sign of Capricorn until June 9. Whereas the influence of Sagittarius can be very optimistic and speculative (some might say it is the sign of “the gambler”), Capricorn can be more demanding of hard evidence to support such sudden price increases.”

 

            The next days are very critical, and filled with Jupiter-type of signatures. On Monday, Jupiter turns retrograde. On Wednesday, the Sun trine Jupiter and Neptune occurs, as mentioned above. Next Sunday, June 21, Venus and Mars will be in conjunction, and both will trine Saturn the next day, June 22. If you are looking for love or agreement, this is the time to find it. If you are looking for a top in stock markets, this may also be the time to find it. Just don’t get married to your position. The attraction is more of an infatuation – or the result of an “irrational exuberance” – than reality, as will likely be discovered once the bloom of Jupiter and Neptune fades away.

 

Longer-Term Thoughts

 

            Speaking of Jupiter and Neptune, and its correlation to dream-like infatuation and bliss, combined with the romantic urges of Venus and Mars in conjunction in the affectionate sign of Taurus… one might think that this is a love affair with the market (and certain public figures) that will never end. Neptune is the principle of dreaming, Jupiter the principle of exaggeration. What happens when the cold, hard, reality of Saturn comes in? We may get a glimpse of that in the next two weeks, for the Jupiter-Neptune principle may peak this week, followed by the trines involving Saturn the week after. We may be in store for a see-saw between hope and reality, which will be preview of the longer-term periods of the first half of 2009 and the last quarter of this same year. Right now, the 13-year Jupiter-Neptune conjunction is at its most powerful, for we are right in the middle of the first two passes of May 27 and July 10. There will be a couple of more times we may feel this wonderful, uplifting energy in July and August as both Venus and Mars will “translate” in soft aspects to the Jupiter and Neptune conjunction. But then what happens when the third (of five) Saturn-Uranus oppositions unfolds in mid-September, with the Sun conjunct Saturn no less – a situation very much like what happened in mid-September 2008?

 

            There is a warning the heavens are giving us right now. Everything may look good and feel good. And you may be tempted to jump in, get on board, and ride this wave to riches and success, since the stock market doesn’t seem to want to come down. Who wants to be left behind? But whenever you buy on a new high under Jupiter and Neptune, you have to understand: not everything rises forever, especially with Saturn and Uranus still in opposition through mid-2010. It’s like love and marriage. At some point, someone has to pay the bills. Maybe its time to think about cashing in the chips before they become worth less, or even worthless.  

 

Announcements

 

            We are pleased to announce our new official Japanese web site at http://merriman.jp. Here you can read our free weekly report in Japanese every week. You can purchase several of our books and subscription reports in Japanese, including or new weekly Gold report, Cash Currencies report, and both the MMA Cycles and MMA Japanese Markets Cycles reports. If you read Japanese, please feel free to check out this new site, created by Toshi Nippou Ltd. of Tokyo.

 

            We are also pleased to announce the formation of our new Weekly Cash Currencies Report in English, to start the first week of June 2009. This report will cover our weekly analysis of cash Euro Currency, the Dollar-Yen, and the Euro-Dollar markets. For further in formation on this new subscription report, please visit www.mmacycles.com, and look under SERVICES.

 

The monthly SOS Report was issued to subscribers on June 11. If you are a subscriber and did not receive it, contact ordersmma@msn.com immediately. This SOS monthly report addresses 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 now in terms of the 72-, 18-, 4-year, and 50-week cycles. It also discusses the shorter cycles (primary and its phases) of the DJIA, German DAX, Netherlands AEX, the Australian All Ordinaries, Hang Seng of Hong Kong, the NASDAQ Composite Index, and the XAU Gold and Silver Mining index. The German edition also covers the Swiss Market Index (SMI). It also includes 3-star critical reversal dates for stock indices and a list of the major geocosmic signatures in effect for the following month, with their appropriate C/S values. For information, go to http://www.mmacycles.com/catalogue/services/the-sos-stock-market-cycles/.

 

            This is a good time to sign up for the ISAR 2009 conference, as a window for a wonderful discount closes July 25. For those interested in learning or improving your understanding of astrology, this fantastic conference in Astrology is going to take place August 19-24, 2009, at the luxurious  Oakbrook Hills Marriot Resort, just outside of Chicago (not far from O’Hare Airport). This will be the ISAR (International Society for Astrological Research) 2009 conference, featuring over 80 professional astrologers from all over the world, including Jeff Jawer, Rick Levine, Michael Lutin, Claude Weiss, Nick Campion, Verena Bachmann, and several Financial Astrologers like Christeen Skinner, Robert Hitt, Grace Morris, Roy Gillett, and myself. There will be a whole track on Financial Astrology, and I will be giving a one-day workshop on Financial Astrology, specializing in the Stock and Gold markets, on Monday, August 24. For more information, and registration, please go to www.isar2009.com.

 

            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.”

 

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.