Financial Astrology - MMA WEEKLY, Comments for the week ahead, Market timing

The Market Week in Review :

The Dow Jones Industrial Average continued its surge upwards last week to close at new all-time highs, in spite of Mercury retrograde. All-time highs were also noted in the Hang Seng Index of Hong Kong, while the London FTSE, German DAX, and NASDAQ Composite also registered new multi-year highs at the end of last week. But the other indices of the world did not. Many fell short of even exceeding the highs of the previous week, such as the AEX in the Netherlands, the Swiss stock index, the Brazilian Bovespa, and the Australian All Ordinaries. Others rallied, but failed to take out their highs of last April and May, such as Japan's Nikkei and Argentina's Merval Index, thus creating a worrisome case of Intermarket bearish divergence.

As stated in last week's column, “This week the predominant aspects involve Saturn and Jupiter as well as Neptune. This should be interesting, for Saturn tends to be more realistic and sober. But Neptune is still there in square to Mars, so does the delusionary euphoria turn to paranoid fears? It is hard to say, as it always is hard to say anything too specific with confidence under Mercury retrograde.” It appears that Jupiter and Neptune were more in evidence in stock indices than Saturn. But fear and retreat was evident in precious metals and crude oil, where price advances were thwarted after looking so positive the prior week. Even the fast paced and bullish grain markets retreated last week. In almost every market other than stocks, the Mercury retrograde pattern was most definitely in evidence, flip-flopping from false buy signals to false sell signals, back and forth, every 1-4 days.

But now Mercury comes to an end as of Friday, November 17. Still, it appears the next two week could still be unsettled and vulnerable to many surprising events and announcements. Also keep in mind that this Thursday will be the Thanksgiving holiday in the USA, which might minimize this volatility suggested by astrology. Stock markets are typically bullish going into this Thanksgiving, and more so the day after.

Short-Term Geocosmics :

The big range days in the Dow Jones Industrial Average could be starting now as suggested in last week's column: “It can be stressful until Mars finishes its square of Saturn on November 29. I would not be surprised to see a couple of triple digit down days (and maybe up days too) in the Dow Jones Industrial Average between now and then.” Mercury ended its retrograde motion on Friday, November 17, and Uranus ends its retrograde motion on Monday, November 20. Together, these two stations imply sudden changes and wild movements in market direction. In market terminology, this is known as “whip saws,” or volatility. With the Sun conjunct Jupiter on Tuesday, and both the Sun and Jupiter entering Sagittarius (Jupiter's ruling sign) on Wednesday and Friday, we could start to see bigger and bigger price swings. Both Jupiter and Sagittarius relate to the principle of exaggeration, overdoing, over reaching, and euphoria - or hysteria. We could have both by the end of this month and even into early December, for the Uranus, the planet of the unexpected, is squared by both Venus and the Sun on November 25 and December 3 respectively. And right in the middle is the Mars-Saturn square (November 29), a signature of conflict and war threats.

The Mars-Saturn square is important, for it falls into the degrees of the Sun-Pluto square of the New York Stock Exchanges chart (May 17, 1792), thus creating a very rare configuration known as a fixed grand square. In the study of astrology, this is considered about as difficult an aspect pattern as can be found. And yet the stock market keeps rising and rising. Perhaps it is true that bull markets have to climb “Walls of Worry,” for certainly this pattern would be considered a very big “Wall of Worry” to a Financial Astrologer.

Jupiter entering Sagittarius next Friday, November 24, signifies a change in the collective consciousness. Jupiter will remain in Sagittarius until December 18, 2007. Furthermore Jupiter rules Sagittarius, so it will likely be stronger than usual in its impact upon financial markets when forming aspects to other planets. Since Jupiter is considered a benefic and pertaining to optimism, a Financial Astrologer would be tempted to think that this should be very bullish for the stock markets of the world. And it may in fact unfold that way for the next year. But Jupiter and Sagittarius can also relate to over-estimation, and it will be in square to the Uranus in Pisces. Hard aspects between Jupiter - Uranus can indicate a period of over-speculation, gambling, and poor timing (judgment) with the consequences of large gains followed by large losses. Since the “normal” time band for the 4-year cycle in stocks is still in effect through June 2007, I continue to anticipate a 20+% decline in these indices shortly.

Long-Term Thoughts :

Let's discuss this 4-year cycle in stocks a little more deeply. For two years now I have forecasted the possibility - no, the probability - of a 20+% decline that is due in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. This cycle has a “normal” range of 36-56 months historically. Measured form the last low of October 2002, it is due anywhere between October 2005 through June 2007. According to our cycle studies, as reported in The Ultimate Book on Stock Market Timing Volume 1: Cycles and Patterns in the Indexes, the 4-year cycle will bottom in concert with a 50-week stock market cycle. There may be 3-5 of these 50-week cycles within a 4-year cycle. Some readers have expressed disappointment that I have been wrong about this outlook. But the time band for the 4-year cycle is still in effect. The 4-year cycle didn't bottom top out in March 2005 and then bottom with the third 50-week cycle in October 2005. It didn't top out in May 2006 and then bottom with the fourth 50-week cycle in June-July 2006. Even those were excellent calls for market tops, and resulted in large profits for traders, they weren't the 4-year cycle crest and troughs. They were the third and fourth 50-week sub-cycles. But there is still time for the 4-year cycle to unfold, and we are now in the fifth 50-week cycle phase of the 4-year cycle. I may have been wrong to the extent that I mostly expected it to happen in the fourth 50-week cycle phase (due June-December 2006), but in all cases subscribers were informed of the possibility that it could extend into a fifth 50-week cycle - which is where we are now.

Not only that, but November 2006 represents the 49 th month since the October 2002 low that began the current 4-year cycle in U.S. stocks. It is now 44 months since that same cycle began in European stocks (March 2003, coincident with the U.S. attack in Iraq). As reported in the Volume 1 of the “Stock Market Timing” book mentioned earlier, the 4-year cycle in the DJIA usually tops out 26-49 months after it starts. In only three cases (since 1893) has it lasted more than 49 months. So since November 2006 is the 49 th month, please forgive me if I warn once again that a long-term cycle crest could now be unfolding, to be followed by a sharp decline of approximately (or more than) 20% by June 2007. I have my reasons and I have my strong beliefs. But with Jupiter entering Sagittarius, square to Uranus, I can understand why some investors wish to remain ardently optimistic and speculative. Perhaps they will be correct, for in the past Jupiter in Sagittarius has been bullish for stocks. And in one of those three cases where the rally has exceeded 49 months in the 4-year cycle in the DJIA, was following the huge decline from the all-time high of September 1929 to the low in July 1932. That decline was 90%, and the rally which followed lasted 56 months. Is the pattern similar now? We had a strong rally to new all-time highs in January 2000, followed by an 80% drop in the NASDAQ Composite into October 2002. The rally that has followed is far from making new all-time highs here, but it has lasted an extremely long 49 months so far. The pattern looks a lot like what happened from 1929 through 1936. Acknowledgement to cycle's analyst Jimmy Jones for pointing this out. Jimmy is one of the money managers we suggested a couple of months ago for help in structuring a trading plan to take advantage of the new bull market in Corn. He can be reached at 1-800-274-5333.

Announcements :

To all of our European readers, and especially German-speaking audience, please note that I will be giving a talk in Cologne, 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 49-221-6800050, or go to http://www.mma-europe.de. Or email info@mma-europe.de.

If you are interested in receiving our free 2007 catalogue of products and services, please let us know. Go to our web site (front page) and click the link to make the request, or send email, with your postal address, to ordersmma@msn.com . The catalogue will be coming out in about 2 weeks.

The Forecasts for 2007 Book will come out on December 15. There is only one printing of this annual book, and twice in the past five years it has sold out. The number of books ordered is dependent upon the number of books pre-ordered (+20%). So order now to make sure you don't miss your copy of next year's forecasts on world politics, stock markets, currencies, precious metals, crude oil, grains, interest rates and treasury notes, plus critical reversal dates of each, and much, much more. Enjoyable reading, informative, and a constant reference source for trading in the next year. For more information.

The newly revised The Sun, The Moon, and Silver Book: Secrets of a Silver Trader, is also now completed and with the editor, being readied for publication in the next few weeks. This book can also be ordered prior to publication, which is due sometime in December 2006. This book identifies all the key Sun-Moon combinations that have a higher (and lower) than expected probability of correlating with 4% or greater reversals in COMEX Silver. It also identifies “Big Range Days” - those days in which the range of Silver is most likely to be 3.5% or more of the price of Silver, which is a great tool for day traders. This book fulfills the dream of all traders: high probability winning trade possibilities, with minimal market exposure. The cost is $125.00. For ordering either of these two books.

We expect to have available CD's of last week's “MMA Market Timing” conference in Phoenix, which was a great success. You will be able to order the 12-hour course on CD, plus the 100+ page workbook that goes along with it, for $1500.00 + postage. If you are interested, let us know at ordersmma@msn.com . This is a great way to learn how to time turns in any financial market. And it comes with the two beginning books, titled “Basic Principles of Geocosmic Studies for Financial Market Timing,” and “Merriman on Market Cycles: The Basics,” plus a 2-issue trial of the “MMA Cycles Report.”

If you are an active short-term trader, you may wish to consider subscribing to our Weekly or even Daily Market Reports with short-term trading recommendations. 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-Bonds, Soybeans, Wheat, Gold and Silver. The daily reports cover all stock indices listed above, as well as futures in Euro, T-Bonds, Soybeans, Gold and Silver. Subscription to the daily report also includes the weekly report. For more information, or call our offices at 1-248-626-3034.

I have had several calls regarding a “crisis investing” portfolio that I suggested could be developed with the help of a money manager who subscribes to my reports, and shares my views about the next few years. If you are interested, you can contact him at ted.fisher@comcast.net.
He will be more than happy to assist you.