MMA WEEKLY - Financial Astrology commentary, Market timing, MMA Cycles, The Merriman Market Analyst

The Market Week in Review :

The powerful rally that began in world equity markets within two trading days of the Uranus stationary direct point of November 24, reached its peak early last week as the 13-year Jupiter-Pluto conjunction unfolded on December 11. This was right into critical reversal zone as described in last week's column, and in our recent subscription reports. It was also the day that the Federal Reserve Board did what we expected - it lowered the Fed Funds rate by a quarter point and tacked on a cut to the discount rate too. The Dow Jones Industrial Average promptly began a sell-off of nearly 300 points by the end of that day. Other world indices followed. Stock traders clearly were not impressed with only a quarter point cut, and showed their displeasure with Bernanke and company accordingly. In fact, it might be an indication of the street's disappointment in Mr. Bernanke as of late. In the wording that followed, the FED seemed to indicate that the concern about inflation was moderating. The risks of inflation were now balanced against the risk of an economic slow-down. By Friday, that type of guidance by the FED proved about as useless as a stock tip from your neighborhood bar patrons. The CPI inflation report on Friday morning showed a much higher-than-expected rise of .8% for the month. Once again, the FED seemed to demonstrate that it is not interested in doing anything about preventing inflation, except to talk strong about it. All their actions in the past year have been pro-inflationary, or at least not anti-inflationary. It is clear their primary intent is to try to avoid a recession and continue fueling growth in the economy (and confidence in it), and hope that strong warnings and words alone will fight off inflation. But it appears the Street is getting wise to this game. I don't think they like Bernanke and team much after this week.

As the stock markets promptly started to give back a big chunk of their gains, many indices now find prices testing their 25-day moving average already. This week thus begins a critical juncture for world indices. Will they complete a corrective decline this week and resume their new up trends started in late November? Or is the Jupiter-Pluto conjunction such a powerful reversal force that these indices will continue falling even harder, and even past their lows of last August and November?

Stocks indices weren't the only markets to experience a pullback last week. All foreign currencies (vis-à-vis) the U.S. Dollar also declined. Most significant may be the fall in the Euro currency, which as explained in our recent newsletters, was due to make a top and begin a noteworthy decline into its 26-month cycle trough, due shortly. Silver also fell hard. After posting a multi-week high at 1497 on December 12, the March contract fell all the way down to 1389 the next two days, its lowest level in two months.

Short-Term Geocosmics :

We just left one powerful geocosmic reversal zone of December 7 through December 11. And now we begin another that lasts much longer: December 18 through January 12. This reversal zone may be compromised a bit due to holiday markets. The volume is apt to be low during the central part of this reversal period, and in fact many days will find markets closed altogether. Still, some of the signatures have strong historical correspondence to primary or greater cycles in stocks and commodities, and deserve to be treated carefully. One of the more important signatures in this cluster happens this Wednesday as Saturn turns retrograde. Saturn stations, along with Venus and Uranus stations, have the highest correlation of all planetary stations to important reversals in U.S. stock indices, as reported in "The Ultimate Book on Stock Market Timing Volume 3: Geocosmic Correlations to Trading Cycles" (it makes a great holiday gift for that special trading friend). As demonstrated therein, Saturn retrograde has a 65% correlation to primary cycles within an orb of 11 trading days, and a 70% correlation to 4% or greater reversals within only 4 trading days. That's the statistics. The astrological observation is that any financial markets that are declining into Saturn stations have a high probability of bottoming and turning right back up again within a couple of trading days. And as one can see, there are a number of financial markets that are declining right now, including precious metals, currencies, treasuries, and stocks. Yet as we know from our studies of astrology, Saturn and squares are not always bearish, nor are trines and Jupiter always bullish. And thus those markets that have been rising may peak out now too, like grains, which have been soaring again as of late. Wheat is again making new all-time highs, Soybeans are making new contract highs, and Corn is back at its ten-year high recorded last June.

The following week will find the Sun and Jupiter conjunct, and both in a rare opposition to Mars during the same week. As indicated before, Jupiter has tendency to expand or exaggerate things whenever it is in force, especially with Mars. So, even with the holidays talking place then, we might see large price swings. These signatures indicate the potential for either euphoria or panic. And since Jupiter and Sun conjunct the Federal Reserve Board's natal Sun (and opposite its natal Pluto), and since the stock market is clearly showing its displeasure with the FED by declining, we may see yet another surprise rate cut before the holiday season is over. That would make everyone euphoric and in the holiday mood. And wouldn't Bernanke, the Sagittarian, be the perfect person to be cast in the role of Santa Clause - especially after what happened this week?

Long-Term Thoughts :

The last two weeks have not been good for President George W. Bush. This station of Saturn is taking place right on his natal Mars. Mars is the planet of action, of wanting to something and do it now - especially if it involves combat. His progressed Mars is conjoining his natal Moon and Jupiter in Libra, a signature I reported in last year's Forecast Book would indicate expanding military involvement, and not withdrawing forces as the special Baker-Hamilton Commission he appointed suggested. And in the past two weeks comes an intelligence report (NIE) that states that in 2004 Iran stopped its nuclear development program that the White House was so concerned about. And this past week comes another report that the CIA "... destroyed videotaped interrogations (that) could permit defense lawyers to raise the specter of a CIA coverup to cast doubt on evidence," according to the Wall Street Journal, December 8, 2007. For the past several months the White House has warned the world, and especially Americans, about Iran's nuclear ambitions, and the threat it was posing for the U.S. and Europe. And what happens now that the restrictive Saturn comes to sit right on his natal Mars? An intelligence report (NIE) comes out that states that in 2004, Iran stopped its nuclear development program that the White House was so concerned about. And it suggests that Mr. Bush may have known about this report as early as August 2007, and his Vice President knew about it even before Mr. Bush. Talk aboutbeing stopped right in the middle of your tracks.

There are a lot of questions that are being asked about this matter and other matters of the past couple of years. You may remember that the most significant long-term planetary aspect in effect this past year was the Saturn-Neptune opposition. And you may remember that this aspect has a historical correlation of leaders being questioned ("special investigations") as to "what they knew and when they knew it," as the public becomes increasingly suspicious of whether or not it is being told the truth. Think of Watergate in 1971-72, the last time this aspect unfolded. But it wasn't until 1973-74 that the matter was raised to the public's awareness and the consequences took effect. Or even the quarter cycles that occurred in 1989 when George Bush Sr. was president and promised not raise taxes, but did just that after being elected. Or Bill Clinton in 1998 (another quarter cycle of Saturn-Neptune) saying right on television that "I never had sex with that woman," only to find out a few weeks later that wasn't exactly true (depends on what the meaning of "is" is). What happened in 2006-2007 may not be fully known right now. But chances are it will be coming out within the next two years, and maybe even few months. The thing is, American don't like to be lied to by their leaders. They don't like to be duped into entering wars either without verifiable intelligence that supports the threat their leader tells them is present. Is Iran a threat? Is the leader of a country who claims that Israel needs to be wiped off the earth a potential threat? I tend to think so. But the credibility of those who oppose this leader is severely hampered when their own words - or the words of the highly regarded intelligence agencies - are found to be wanting in accuracy. And when that happens, it is not surprising that one's desire to do what he wishes is severely curtailed by his opponents. And that is not uncommon when transiting Saturn sits right on one's natal Mars for a few weeks. The good news for Mr. Bush is that this aspect leaves in about a month. The bad news it will return again in ale of months before his term is over. The consequence of what is being learnt now is not over.

Announcements :

I am going to give the Forecast 2008 speech to the world on Saturday, January 5, 2008, starting at 12:00 PM EST (that's 5:00 PM, GMT, or 9:00 AM, January 5 in Los Angeles). Via the modern technology of You-niversity.com, this latest update on "Forecasts for 2008" can be heard in the comfort of your home or office. All you need is a computer with speakers. You will hear my live voice and see the latest market charts (and other graphics) on your computer screen that will be the focus of this presentation. You can ask questions by logging on to our virtual on-line meeting that day, and inputting a pin number that you will be given upon receipt of your reservation for this event. The cost for this private discussion is $45.00. Plan to be with me, on line, for about 2 hours. To register for this on-line event, go to http://www.mmacycles.com/virtual. Or drop us an email (ordersmma@msn.com) or fax (248-538-5296), or call us at 1-248-626-3034, and we will email instructions on participating.

The “MMA Cycles Report” and “MMA Japan Markets Cycles Report” came out last week. These reports come out every three weeks to subscribers of these reports, although it will change to a monthly issuance cycle next year, so that the "SOS Global Stock Market Cycles Report" can be increased to a monthly issuance cycle as well. The "MMA Cycles Report" (Monday night by email) is our market advisory report for traders of the U.S. stock indices, T-Notes, Gold, Silver, Euro, Swiss Franc, Grains, and Crude Oil. The “MMA Japan Cycles Report” covers the Nikkei, Dollar/Yen, and JGB Bonds, and comes out Tuesday afternoon. For more information

Our MMA 2013 catalogue is now out and available to overseas clients on our web site at www.mmacycles.com, and then under MMA Catalogue, and then under MMA Catalogue (pdf). Or just click here. Due to high overseas postal costs, we will no longer send this catalogue out by postal mail except to clients in the U.S.A. So, if you are interested in this year's services and products, you can download it from our web site.

The Forecast book for 2008 : is done! It's out as of Friday, December 14. The response for this book in the last week has been overwhelming. I wasn't going to do this, but it looks like an immediate reprint will be necessary, because we may already be sold out, something that usually doesn't happen before March. We usually take the number of orders received by December 1 and add 40% to the print total. But that formula clearly isn't working this year, even though pre-orders were at a record level. I don't know what it is, but people seem to be extremely interested in what astrology has to say about this coming year, or at least my interpretation of this noble study. Its fine with me, of course, because I think this year's book is the best I have ever written. It was certainly the most intense of all the ones I have written over the past 32 years. If you wish to get a copy, you can still do so for the remaining copies that may still be available this week. But I will immediately order more and they should be ready in the next week. But that is it. When those new copies are gone, there will not be a further reprint. The cost of this year's book will remain at $45.00. Available also in German at www.mma-europe.de. For description of this book, please go to http://www.mmacycles.com and click the banner.

My next financial presentations will take place in all day workshops on January 19 and 26 in Cologne, Germany and Basel, Switzerland, respectively. For further information, please go to EVENTS on our web site at www.mmacycles.com. 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.

The newly revised The Sun, The Moon, and Silver Book : Secrets of a Silver Trader, is now out. This is a book that you will use as a reference guide for...many, many years. It 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. It is that “extra edge.” And Silver is a great market to trade now. The cost is $125.00. For ordering on line.

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. 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-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. 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."

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.

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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