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

The Market Week in Review :

A lot has happened since our last report two weeks ago. Stock markets around the world went into a free fall as the U.S. markets were closed on thee Martin Luther King holiday of January 21. The crash continued when the U.S. markets opened up the next day, forcing the Federal Reserve Board to make a surprise three-quarters percent interest rate cut in the Fed Funds rate. This was followed by another half-point when they met this past Wednesday. It was exactly what the market needed, supporting our position that our "Fire Sign" heroes Bernanke and Paulsen would do whatever is necessary to prevent a recession on their watch. Fed Chair Ben Bernanke is a Sagittarian, and Treasury Secretary Hank Paulsen is a Sagittarian, both fire signs. And if there is one thing we know about fire signs, it is that they don't like to wait. They are men of action, and they seek the glory that comes from acting quickly and decisively. But of course, sometimes they fall into troubles for acting too quickly, and not having the patience to see prior actions unfold in their "proper" time. For fire signs, the "proper" time may take too long for their comfort. They can get easily restless. This tendency to act hastily and with exaggeration may become a problem after this year's election. Right now, it was welcomed, and the markets rewarded their decisiveness with strong rallies, thereby abruptly halting the panic that was starting to build.

Most stock markets made a spike low the prior week, on January 22 and 23. For many of the world indices, that trough represented a greater than 20% decline from the highs that preceded it, making it the steepest decline since the 4-year bottoms of October 2002 or March-April 2003, depending on which part of the world you look at. Many financial astrologers were puzzled as to why a market would bottom as Jupiter formed a favorable trine to Saturn at the time of the low. But as stated many times before in this column, the market doesn't always judge trines to be crests or squares to be troughs. Trines are favorable, so if the news was mostly negative going into a trine, it would coincide with a bottom or trough, and then the news would be favorable, leading to rally off that low. In this case, the news was favorable. The FRB lowered interest rates, not once, but twice.

Still the market struggled. It wasn't straight up. Most markets made an initial top last Friday, January 25, and then sold off quickly into Monday. They then rallied again, only to fall somewhat sharply again into Thursday, back to the lows of Monday (more than 2.5% each time). Then they took off again late Thursday through Friday, February 1, as the Venus-Jupiter conjunction unfolded. Why all the whip saws, and swinging back and forth? Financial astrology would suggest it was due to Mercury turning retrograde on Monday, January 28, and Mars turning direct on January 30. Mercury and Mars highlighted together correlates with volatility. Mercury retrograde coincides with periods when there is a tendency towards many conflicting messages, from politicians as well as economic data and pundits. We can expect these swings to continue until Mercury turns direct on February 18-19. However, the further we get into Mercury retrograde, the less amplitude in the daily price swings, unless Uranus or Mars-Jupiter signatures are unfolding too.

In other markets, Gold and Silver were the stellar performers until late Friday. Gold, made another new all-time high early Friday, approaching 950.00. Silver soared to its highest level since 1980, trading above $17.00. However both sold off pretty hard by Friday's close, with Gold making its weekly low that quickly. This is typical Moon in Sagittarius stuff, which was in effect on Friday. The Euro also tested its all-time on Friday, and the Swiss Franc made an all-time high then. But by the close, both were off sharply. Crude Oil continues to languor below 90.00, after passing out critical 100.00 mark earlier in January. For two years we had forecasted Crude would hit 100.00 by spring 2008, and now we've done it. But is that the top? If so, look for 20.00-50.00 oil within 1-3 years. This forecast is based on the history of Uranus transiting Pisces. Stock sectors ruled by the sign Uranus is in tend to "blow-off" to new all-time highs while in the middle degrees of that sign, Then they lose 50-90% of their value by the time it reaches the end of that same sign.

Short-Term Geocosmics :

The major geocosmic signature this week is the partial solar eclipse on Wednesday, February 6. By itself I am doubtful that this will do that much to the markets. Eclipses seem only important as significant cycle lows or highs when they make aspects to other major planets at the same time, in my experience.

Our next major cluster of geocosmic signatures doesn't come up until the following week, starting with the Sun-Neptune conjunction of February 10. That's a big one, much more important than Financial Astrologers would think. It has a 75% correlation to primary or greater cycles within 9 trading days.

Long-Term Thoughts :

Our previous suggestion that one of the winners of the New Hampshire presidential primary would probably be the next president of the United States appears to be coming true. John McCain won the Republican side of that primary, and Hillary Clinton the Democratic. Both are now favored to win "Super Tuesday's" primaries. Whoever is ahead after Super Tuesday will probably their party's nominee. As stated back at the time of the Iowa primary, and just before the New Hampshire one on January 8, "This coming week will also feature a new moon at 17 degrees of Capricorn on Tuesday (January 8). This is where transiting Jupiter will be on Election Day, November 4, 2008. In fact, the Moon will also return to this position at the start of Election Day too (a lunar return to this new moon). Any candidate who gains momentum during this period has a good chance of being on the ballot in November. Based on this principle, it would seem that New Hampshire (and other primaries taking place prior to January 22) may be more reflective of what to expect in November than Iowa was this past week - unless of course, these primaries mirror the Iowa results. But I wouldn't rest on those results if I were Obama or Huckabee.".

The Moon on Super Tuesday, February 5, will again be in Capricorn as the voting starts, same as it will on Election Day. So once again, it seems to mirror what we might expect on Election Day itself. I was asked in Zurich last week, who I thought might be the next president. I replied that it would probably be McCain or Clinton. But if Rudy Giuliani could make it through, he would have the best chance of beating Hillary. But after listening to McCain the past few days, I am not so sure that Hillary will beat him. As mentioned in the Forecast Book, the winner will likely be the candidate with who represents law and order the strongest, for that is what the Moon in Capricorn is about on a collective emotional "need" level. I thought Hillary might be stronger here than McCain (Scorpio versus Virgo). But the Capricorn Moon also represents "age" and "experience," and for that McCain gets the edge. And where is Obama in all of this? His support is the youth. If the youth turn out, he still has a chance, for on Election Day, Saturn (age and establishment) is opposite Uranus (youth). And where is Mitt Romney in all of this? He has Mars in Pisces, and there has never been a U.S. President with Mars in Pisces. Most have had Mars in Leo, which is the case with both Hillary and McCain, per the studies of Michael O'Reilly in his book called "Political Astrology." Obama has Mars in Virgo, like current President George W. Bush. However, Mars in Pisces is a psychological dynamic very much like Mars in aspect to Neptune. Several USA Presidents have had Mars-Neptune aspects (like Bill Clinton), as does the U.S.A. chart itself. So we can't count Romney out just yet.

Geez. I sound like Mercury retrograde with all these conflicting signatures. Don't worry. We will know soon enough, and the principles of astrology are working just fine in terms of this election, and the financial markets.

Announcements :

The new "SOS Global Market Cycles Report" will come out this week, February 6 (February 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.

The special webcast of the Forecast 2008 presentation that took place Saturday, January 5, 2008 was so successful that we have had many requests to do an update of the markets more often via this format. And so we will! I think I will do this again on Saturday, April 19, and probably about 5:00 PM, so our clients in Japan can also see and hear it. I will have more on this in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, we have about 10 CD's left of the January 5 presentation. This special on-line virtual discussion addressed the importance of Pluto in Capricorn, the forthcoming Cardinal Climax and the potential changes it implies for the Federal Reserve Board, plus the latest updates on the DJIA (and indirectly, all world stock indices), Treasuries, Euro and Swiss Franc currencies, and Gold and Silver, and Crude Oil. The cost for this 2+ hour discussion is $45.00, plus postage. If you are interested in purchasing this CD, drop us an email ( ordersmma@msn.com ) or fax (248-538-5296), or call us at 1-248-626-3034. You may also order through our shopping cart at www.mmacycles.com.

On Saturday evening, February 23, I will be giving a special presentation on Forecasts for 2008 in Boulder, Colorado. It will be similar to the Webcast given on January 5, but updated where financial markets are concerned. For further information, please contact Louise McCombs at 303-828-5445, or by email at macastrology@yahoo.com.

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.

We have reprinted additional copies of the "Forecasts for 2008" book in English, to replace the 150 books that were damaged by U.S. Post Office, and to cover additional orders that continue to come in. There are approximately 75 copies still available through our website. There are no plans to print additional copies of the German edition, which sold out three weeks ago.

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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