Comments for the week beginning December 18, 2006
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Review and Preview
The past week was another positive one for stock markets around the world. New all-time highs were posted in Australia , Brazil , Argentina , and then with the Dow Jones Industrial Average in the United States . Multi-year highs were noted in Germany and England (but not Netherlands or Switzerland ). As stated in last week’s column, “With several planets in Sagittarius this coming week, we could see higher prices. But we also note that time is running out cycle’s wise, as it is very late in the time band for the 4-year cycle to top out. I expect these highs to all be completed anytime by January 20, when Mars leaves Sagittarius. Sun, Mercury and Venus will leave much before then – in December.” The combination of so many planets in Sagittarius, plus the bullish seasonal factors, continues to push stocks up to new highs, so enjoy it while it lasts.
Not all the other markets did so well last week. Gold and Silver had a huge sell-off on Friday, as did many currencies against the Dollar (the greenback rose strongly). But this fits with our prior forecast that these markets would all make crests while Mars was in the later half of Scorpio (November 13-December 4), and then fall as Mars moved into the first third of Sagittarius. However, Crude Oil did very well, closing the week at 64.43, up smartly from the weekly low of 61.30 on Tuesday.
Short-Term Geocosmics
This week finds another cluster of geocosmic signatures unfolding, December 17-22. In addition, there will be a new moon on December 20, conjunct Pluto and the Galactic Center . On December 21 the Winter solstice begins as the Sun ingresses into Capricorn. Just minutes prior to the solstice, Mars will form a waning square to Uranus, the strongest signature in the group as far as its correlation to reversals in the stock market. This signature has a 77% historical rate of frequency to primary or greater cycles (that’s a lot!), within an orb of 13 trading days. And 50% of the time, that same time band has had an historical correlation of 50% to 50-week or greater cycles in stocks. Of course, if the 50-week cycle tops out in this period, it will likely be the crest of the 4-year cycle too, for I anticipate this to be the last 50-week cycle phase within the greater 4-year cycle. According to cycles’ theory (as outlined in The Ultimate Book on Stock Market Timing Volume 1: Cycles and Patterns in the Indexes), the last phase of a bullish cycle will contain the steepest decline of the entire greater cycle.
There are other astrological conditions of interest too. For instance, the new moon in Sagittarius means that the “Sagittarius Factor” is in effect this Monday through Wednesday. This lunar cycle tends to correspond to big price swings in precious metals and Treasuries That is supported even further with the movement of heliocentric (not geocentric) Mercury into Sagittarius December 21 through January 2. The bottom line is that the market climate is not totally free from the Sagittarius influence for the holiday season. But more often than not, the first few days of heliocentric Mercury in Sagittarius tends to be more bullish for currencies and precious metals, and less bullish for stocks.
All in all, this should be an interesting week. It is one that is filled with a lot of geocosmic activity, but it also happens to be the pre-holiday market week, when volume tends to decline as we get closer and closer to the end of the week. In such markets, geocosmics are not always as large a factor as we are accustomed to.
Long-Term Thoughts
According to Thursday’s Wall Street Journal, “OPEC Oil ministers are beginning to line up behind what would be the second production cut in three months.” This is the other side of the Saturn-Neptune opposition referred to in previous columns, and it also ties into our forecast of higher oil prices based on Uranus transiting through Pisces.In astrology, Saturn represents the principle of contraction, repression, and denial. It carries with it the sense of “not enough” of the something related to the sign it is in, or the planet it aspects. In this case, the opposition is an aspect to the planet Neptune , which rules Oil. This is a three-passage series of the Saturn-Neptune opposition, beginning with the first passage on August 31, 2006. The second passage will be during the Saturn retrograde, and takes place February 28. The third and final passage occurs June 25, 2007. The all-time high in Crude Oil was registered on July 14 as the nearby contract reached $79.45/barrel. The price then declined sharply as the Saturn-Neptune aspect started taking hold. Prices fell to $55.00-57.00/barrel in late October through mid-November, depending on which contract one followed. That was a decline of nearly 30%, and fulfilled our criteria for a 4-year cycle trough. One of the ways that Saturn works in the market place is for prices to decline (or be repressed). And so in this case, prices did indeed decline to the market ruled by the planet Saturn aspects: Neptune , which is oil. But then Saturn can also represent a decline in the supply of the commodity ruled the planet it aspects, and hence our forecast that this Saturn-Neptune would first represent a decline in prices, followed by a decline in availability of the product, which would then lead to a significant increase in the price.The idea that Crude Oil would first decline into the Saturn-Neptune opposition was postulated on the understanding that the 4-year cycle trough in Crude Oil was due in 2006. The idea that the commodity would then be subject to reduction in supply, and subsequent rally in prices, was postulated on the understanding of both Saturn in opposition to Neptune (supply limitations) Uranus transiting through Pisces, a phenomenon that takes place 2003 through 2011. In the past, we have observed that “blow-off” to new record highs tend to occur in commodities or stock sectors that are ruled by the sign Uranus is in. Markets associated with those signs tend to soar almost parabolically into the period coinciding with Uranus transiting through the middle degrees of that sign. When Uranus was in Aquarius (1995-2003), it was the tech stocks that soared so high (i.e. NASDAQ). But then these markets top out as Uranus gets close to the 15th degree of that sign. They reverse and undergo a remarkable sell off. The NASDAQ Composite for instance soared above 5000 as it topped out in March 2000 with Uranus at 19 of Aquarius (square Saturn at 15 Taurus). Uranus will be in 15-20 of Pisces in 2007-2008. That’s when I anticipate Crude Oil to test or make new all-time highs – and then sell off back down to 20.00-40.00/barrel as new technology and consumer demand for alternative fuel sources (Saturn-Uranus opposition) starts making its mark on the economy.
Announcements The Forecast for 2007 books are now out (English edition)! The German edition is expected to arrive from the printer this Wednesday and will be mailed at once, but due to holidays, it may take until the end of next week before they arrive to overseas customers. If you haven’t ordered and wish a copy while they last, please go to http://www.mmacycles.com/ordmmabook.shtml to order online. Or call us at 1-800-MMA-3349. When they are gone, they are gone. Despite the fact that we increase our printing orders every year, we have still sold out two of the past three years. So order now and make sure you get a copy – if you wish one.If you are interested in our free 2007 catalogue of products and services, please go to our web site (front page) at www.mmacycles.com, and click the link to make the request, or send email with your postal address to ordersmma@msn.com. Or for a PDF copy of the catalogue, click the following link at www.mmacycles.com/MMAPreferredCatalog07[1].pdf.To all of our European readers, and especially German-speaking audience, please note that I will be giving a presentation in Koln, Germany, titled: “Forecasts for 2007: A Mundane Astrological and Financial Markets Overview.” It will take place January 20, 2007, 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM, at the one-day symposium, sponsored by DAV (largest German Astrology organization) and MMA-Europe, at the Maritim Cologne Hotel. The title of the symposium is “Signs for the Future: An Astrological Look at World, Economic, and Individual Conditions for 2007 and Beyond.” Guest speakers include Claude Weiss ( Switzerland ), Christoph Schubert-Weller ( Germany ), Antonia Langsdorf ( Germany ), Alexandra Klinghammer ( Switzerland ), and Raymond Merriman (USA). Cost is 75 Euro for pre-registration. For further information, contact 49-221-680-0050, or go to http://www.mma-europe.de. Or email info@mma-europe.de.
To those who live in Michigan, Ohio, or surrounding areas, please note that I will be presenting an evening on “Forecasts for 2007” at the elegant Birmingham Community House in downtown Birmingham, Michigan on Saturday, January 6, at 7:30 PM. Birmingham is one of the most beautiful cities in Michigan, especially during this holiday season, with many fantastic fine-dining restaurants. Cost is $25.00/person or $40.00/couple if reserved before January 4, or $30.00/person at the door. To make a reservation, call us at 1-800-662-3349, or 248-626-3034.
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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 authors 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 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 these psychological dynamics that underlie (or coincide with) the news events and hence financial markets of the day.
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