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

The Market Week in Review :

Most stock indices throughout the world completed their decline to new cycle lows early last week. After that, all indices rallied smartly into the end of the week. Technically, they all look very positive as we enter Election Week in the USA and - just as importantly to Financial Astrologers - the first of five passages of the very powerful 45-year Saturn-Uranus opposition.

In Europe, the Netherlands AEX and London FTSE dropped to new 5-year lows last Monday, falling to 231.50 and 3665 respectively. By Friday they were up to 267.69 and 4383 for gains of 15.6% and 19.6%. The German DAX bottomed the Friday before, on October 24, at 4014. By Friday the DAX was up to 5066, an appreciation of 26.2%! The Swiss SMI Index held well above its multi-year low of 5265 that unfolded on October 10, thus exhibiting a case of intermarket bullish divergence to the other European stock indices.

In the Americas, both the Bovespa of Brazil and Merval of Argentina fell to 29,435 and 819.36 early last week. For the Bovespa, that is the lowest level in three years. For the Merval, it was the lowest level in 5 years. Both rallied at least 20% by the end of the week. The NASDAQ Composite fell to its lowest level in five years also the previous week (October 24), down to 1493. By Friday of this past week it was back as high as 1742, for a one-week gain of over 16%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, on the other hand, did not take out its low 7882 recorded on October 10, thus creating a case of intermarket bullish divergence in the Americas too. It reached 9454 on Friday's high, for an appreciation of approximately 20%.

In Asia and the Pacific Rim, all four indices we follow made multi-year lows early last week. In Japan, the Nikkei fell to 6995 on Tuesday, its lowest level since August 1982. The Hang Seng of Hong Kong plunged to 10,676, a level not seen since 2003. It is now only one-third of its all-time high levels achieved just one year ago. The All Ordinaries of Australia fell to 3693 and India's Nifty found a temporary bottom at 2252, both on October 27. By the end of the week, India's Nifty was back to 2921 for a gain of nearly 30% within the same week. Do you think the forthcoming Saturn-Uranus opposition is still volatile ? These are huge moves, and consistent with prior columns that described Uranus signatures as coinciding with moves up and down that are greater in amplitude than anyone expects.

New yearly lows were also witnessed in Crude Oil and Silver last week. Crude fell to 61.30 last Monday, now down nearly $86.00/barrel from its all-time high of 147.27 back in July. That's nearly a 60% decline in just three months. Silver fell to 840 on the overnight market, October 28. Two days later it was back up as high as 1064, a two-day gain of over 25%. Volatile ? Yep. It's Uranus - lots of Uranus, and some rather large planetary cycles involving Uranus.

Short-Term Geocosmics :

It is not just the Saturn-Uranus opposition of November 4 that is operative right now, although that is the "Gorilla in the room". On Friday, October 31, Mars formed a waning trine to Uranus. On Monday, Venus will form a square aspect to both Saturn and Uranus (known as T-square). On Tuesday, the "Big Gorilla" finally steps to the stage as the first of the five Saturn-Uranus oppositions forms its exact aspect, right on the Election Day in the USA. And finally, on the following Monday, November 10, the Sun will for a waning trine aspect to Uranus. That is four major Uranus signatures in 11 days. Even though the technical picture looks very bullish right now, don't expect any stability or "gradually moving patterns" in market prices. If the technicals are valid, we might see extremely strong rallies this coming week. If there are "fake-outs" and surprises in store, we could see sudden collapses too. With Uranus, you never know what to expect. You only know to not expect the normal for the next week. You can anticipate very large price swings, but whether it is up, down, or both, is impossible to know via the study of Financial Astrology alone. There is no pattern to this history, except to say that it falls much harder than any expects, when it falls. This has certainly been the case since Saturn and Uranus began entering their orb of influence last January.

Long-Term Thoughts :

We have been discussing the approach of this Saturn-Uranus opposition for the past several months. It feels like we have been rehearsing for this event all year. And now comes opening night. Will it operate in this sense that it brings in a new era of hope and optimism, the end to the last 8 years of something akin to a collective psychological and financial repression for the working class people of the world ? Or will it be a major upset in expectation, and the perception by the masses of no change at all ? .

Make no mistake about it : this USA election is about class warfare. Or should I say class welfare ? One side (the Democratic Party) believes the past 8 years have been nothing more than corporate welfare - benefits and tax advantages for the large corporations and wealthy people of the United States. The other side (Republicans) believes that a victory by Obama and the Democratic Party will usher a new era of social welfare and redistribution of wealth, whereby the highest wage earners (10%) will see their taxes increase and distributed in the form of tax credits or tax reductions to the bottom 55% of the working force.

So what does Saturn and Uranus say ? How is it likely to manifest (as if someone can truly predict how this will aspect will manifest) ? It seems most likely that Obama and the Democratic Party will be victorious, with a much wider margin of victory than anyone thinks. It looks like it will be a landslide and the Democratic Party will control all three branches of Government : Presidency, House and Senate. If so, then Saturn-Uranus will represent a major and fundamental change of government in the USA. It will truly be a new era, and this possibility will arouse great hope in people throughout the world, as well as in the USA. It will be a tsunami shift from conservative principles of governance (which has been badly applied) to much more liberal policies. It will be a major shift from Saturn to Uranus. Will it be successful ? That is another matter altogether. But at first, it will seem like a great relief, and cause for great celebration, to the majority of people.

Now the other manifestation of Saturn and Uranus would be an upset, along the lines of Harry Truman winning over Thomas Dewey in 1948, when ALL the polls predicted a Dewey victory right into the election. This would be one manifestation of the "upset" and "surprise" potential of Saturn in opposition to Uranus. No one is expecting this, and neither am I. But it does fit with the nature of these two planets in such a powerful aspect. If that does happen, then another element of Saturn and Uranus could very well erupt : chaos and riots. A great number of people will likely rebel (Uranus) against the Establishment (Saturn), amidst claims of fraud and cheating (Mars and Neptune are in square that day too). Martial Law may have to be declared, and the worst of it is that a huge segment of the population would lose all faith in their government. I could speculate further from there, but I prefer not to in this column at this time. But suffice it to say that the Republicans and John McCain cannot win, even if they win. It is Obama's time, and it is time for a major fundamental change in governance of the USA. If not, expect chaos and great social upheaval. Either way, Saturn and Uranus principles will prevail. The old ways will be torn down, and new structures will be built. The stock markets of the world will eventually take this into account, and changes are seldom easily digested by financial markets in such an unsettling economic, political, and social environment. Going into this election is just the first hill on this monster roller coaster ride with stocks.

Announcements :

Forecast for 2009 is on schedule to be released December 15. You can pre-order now and thus make sure you don't miss out on it. Last year, all copies (three printings!) were sold out by the end of January, and there was no additional printing after that. The price remains $45.00, the same as last year. For more information on this book, go to our website at www.mmacycles.com, and click on the opening banner.

You can now order Forecast for 2009 in four languages! It will be available in Japanese, via Toshi Nippou Ltd in Tokyo at http://www.toushinippou.co.jp, in German at www.mma-europe.ch and www.mma-europe.de, and in Spanish via www.mma-spanish.com. In English, you can order directly from us, via our web site, or you can order from www.markettiming.nl in Netherlands, www.astrodata.com in Zurich, Earlthorn Ltd in Hong Kong at www.earlthorn.com or email at earlthorn2000@yahoo.com. In Melbourne, Australia, you may order the Forecast 2009 book through email at investorbooks@iprimus.com.

For those who wish to be part of a "Live Broadcast" on "Forecast for 2009", this first presentation will take place December 13 in a special webcast on that Saturday. You can hear the presentation in the comfort of your own home or office. All you need is computer with speakers and screen. Sign up will be limited to 100 people. Watch our web site at www.mmacycles.com, and this column, for details. If you can't make it for the live broadcast, you can see a repeat of it anytime during that week via our special log-in instructions.

The first "Forecast for 2009" speech will take place December 20, 2008, in Amsterdam, Netherlands. For more information, please contact info@marketttiming.nl, or go to the website.

Our next Forecast 2009 presentation and Financial Market Timing Workshops will take place January 15 and 17, 2009, in Zurich, Switzerland. There is also a possibility we will have a special Sunday question and answer gathering for all MMA Subscribers who are present. We will keep you posted on this development via our websites at www.mmacycles.com and www.mma-europe.ch. On January 22, 2009, Forecast for 2009 will be presented in Belgrade, Serbia. Plans are being made for a Saturday workshop to follow. For information on the Zurich gathering, please contact AstroData at 044-700-1012. For more information on the Belgrade event, please contact info@kepler.edu.yu. Plans are also being considered for a Forecast 2009 speech and workshop on Financial MARKET Timing in Buenos Aires, Argentina in March 2009. We will keep you posted with this via our web site in USA, and also our new website in Spanish at www.mma-spanish.com. That web site may not be functional for another week or two, but it is coming. We are now developing a presence in the second most-spoken language on the planet.

We have added an exciting new feature to our web site. Now, on the very front page, you can get a daily update on the weighted values of the Solar-Lunar cycles for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Silver market, via the studies conducted in "The Ultimate Book on Sock Market Timing Vol 4 : Solar-Lunar Correlations to Trading Cycles," and "The Sun, Moon And Silver Market : Secrets of a Silver Trader." These are the studies, I use personally when trading stock index futures, ETFs (like DIA and Silver fund), and Silver futures. Anything over 100 means it has an above average correlation to reversing from an isolated high or low if it forms that day. The higher the value, the more probable the reversal. To see these daily values, please go to www.mmacycles.com , and just check it out.

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 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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