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

Special One day Discussion with Raymond A. Merriman, follow that track.

The Market Week in Review :

The Venus retrograde counter-trend rally in world stock indices continued last week. This is yet another clear illustration of the value of Astrology to society, as applied to financial markets. On March 6, Venus turned retrograde, a geocosmic phenomenon that occurs every 19 months, and lasts about 6 weeks. On March 6, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell to 6470, its lowest level in 12 years. It has continued rising ever since. As stated previously in this column, "It is not unusual to see a market making a multi-month high or low nearby to Venus turning retrograde, and then reverse in the opposite direction until the time its motion returns direct". That would be April 17, +/- 10 days. We are entering that time band now. It would appear this will be another impressive hit for Financial Astrology, which makes you wonder about the statement made last Wednesday (April 1) by Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Richard Fisher on CNBC. When asked to give his forecast for the U.S.A. economy, Fisher joked: "You know, economic forecasting was invented to make Astrology look respectable". Well, maybe there is some truth to that. After all, Astrology was the ONLY study that accurately forecasted that the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression would begin exactly in 2008. Forecasts by professional Mundane and Financial Astrologers going back to the early 1990's did exactly that (i.e. Andre Barbault of Paris, France, and yours truly, to name two). Of course there are human errors in judgment made by astrologers, just as there are by economists. But of the two studies, which would be more valuable as a forecasting tool, once you actually look at the data objectively and detach from preconceived biases ?

As stated above, most of the world stock indices continued their bullish ascent last week, following their multi-year lows around the weekend of March 6-9. There was a brief interruption as we got to the midpoint of Venus retrograde (March 27), and most indices completed that correction by the middle of last week. The same was true with Crude Oil, European Currencies, and Grain markets, which also fell into the middle of last week, and then rallied strongly after Wednesday. Gold and Silver, on the other hand, fell as the week continued.

Short-Term Geocosmics :

We are now two-thirds of the way through the Venus retrograde period (March 6-April 17). Stock markets have trended up the entire time, with only two mild corrections, lasting only one-two days each. Concurrent with this rally is the spreading belief that March 6 was the end of the long bear market, and that the trend has now truly reversed to bullish. Fundamentally there is much more agreement now by pundits that the economy and housing have also bottomed, and that the long-awaited recovery is underway. But is it ? Or will we wake up after Venus turns direct on April 17 and realize that all these major financial decisions since March 6 were misguided, and all of these rosy forecasts are nothing more than wishful thinking and positive spin as we head towards the 14 -year Jupiter-Neptune conjunction cycle (May-July will be its peak) ? My bias is that stock markets will continue higher into Jupiter-Neptune, AND we will question the soundness of all these financial decisions made under Venus retrograde. They may come back to haunt us by the end of the year.

What is particularly interesting to Financial Astrologers is that Venus will square Pluto for the next month as it reverses it motion from retrograde back to direct. It will be exact two times (April 3 and May 3), but its influence will be prominent during this entire period. At the same time, Pluto is reversing its direction from direct to retrograde (April 4). These are the two planets that rule money and debt, which are two sides of the same coin, so to speak. In addition to debt, Pluto also rules power. It can be forceful or coercive. It can try to initiate activities that are designed to stay under the radar, involving transference of money and/or power. It can say one thing, but do something completely contrary for reasons that are not fully disclosed. An example of this last week might be the government's decision to take over General Motors and fire Rick Wagoner, while at the same time giving Chrysler 30 days to work out a deal with Fiat, or else be subject to same type of expulsions.

Mars will now begin its "translation" to the Saturn-Uranus opposition, April 4-15. In 2008, such "translations" were accompanied by sharp declines in stock indices throughout the world. Since the market is moving higher into this time band, we have to wonder if it will do that again. Or will it move down and complete the decline nearby to April 15, and then make another run to new yearly highs ? Last week's column pointed out that, "The last "translation" occurred with the Sun making the same aspects to Saturn and Uranus (opposition and conjunction respectively), March 8-13. That coincided with the low in most world stock indices, from which started this current bull run... . The one thing that does seem almost certain, however, is that with Mars in opposition to Saturn, followed by its conjunction to Uranus (and all of this occurring in mutable signs), the markets will be volatile. These are signatures that oftentimes coincide with the threat of military conflicts or terrorist activity, and a tendency towards aggression on the world political stage. In terms of nature, it can coincide with fires, explosives, as well as tornadoes, earthquakes, or volcano eruptions". Hmmm... makes you wonder about North Korea's missile test due any day, and the warning issued by the USA not to do it. And, the shocking shooting in Binghamton, NY on Friday, killing 14 people, is yet another example of this type of madness turned violent.

Long-Term Thoughts :

Fear Sells. It's been selling strong since the "triple Saturn" oppositions began in 2001, and it will likely reach its peak as the final Saturn opposition is now taking place November 2008 through July 2010. The "triple Saturn" oppositions I am referring to are the opposition aspects of Saturn to the three planets outside of its orbit : Pluto (2001-2002), Neptune (2006-2007), and Uranus (2008-2010). As stated in previous Forecast Books, "triple Saturn" oppositions within a decade are very rare. This is only the fourth time in the history of the U.S.A. it has happened. In each case the stock market reached record highs, only to be followed by a severe economic and financial market plunge (1827-1834, 1863-1873, and 1965-1972). And now we are in it again, 2001-2010. As was the case in each of the prior instances, the Dow Jones Industrial Average topped out at a record level in October 2007, then began a sharp decline. In the past, these severe declines ended 2-8 years after the last of triple oppositions. That would equate to 2012-2018.

This particular "triple Saturn" opposition time band is most interesting from a geocosmic perspective. It began with the opposition to Pluto in 2001-2002, corresponding to the attack of the World Trade Center - an event that fundamentally changed our life and the world we live in. Things will never be the same - and they keep changing. But the height of the "fear" associated with such challenging aspects between Saturn and the planets beyond its orbit is likely to reach a crescendo during this last combination. As Saturn makes its five-passage opposition to Uranus from November 4, 2008 through July 26, 2010, it will be accompanied by the waning square to Pluto during the last 8 months. In other words, the Saturn-Pluto planetary pair that began this time band (Saturn-Pluto) will also be prominent when it ends.

There is a saying in metaphysics and Christianity that "God never gives us more than we can handle". If that is true, then we must be a very strong generation of souls, for as we prepare to enter the Saturn-Pluto waning square on top of the Saturn-Uranus opposition, it will require us to apply everything we have learned over the past four decades regarding spiritual development. It will be so easy to succumb to lowest level of human emotions now (anger, frustration, blame), and just give up, or enter into violent revolt. These are truly revolutionary dynamics, and either we sit back and allow our foundations to be ripped apart beneath us by those who just blatantly abscond with the power and money, or we revolt in an active effort to change this trend and regain power (and money), or we somehow collectively come together and peacefully - cooperatively - construct a new paradigm to wisely navigate these shifts in consciousness (as well as conditions) that allow us to make this transition to the next level. I don't know exactly how it is going to come out. No one really does, because Uranus is involved (the unexpected, but also the innovative). But I do see these three choices of behaviors available, and whichever is chosen will dictate what we are about to go through in the few years and how we will come out. Maybe this even answers the question of, "Is there a God ? " But there has to be. Otherwise, how could astrology work ? Man certainly didn't create such a complex and orderly pattern in the cosmos to correlate so magnificently with cycles in our collective activity.

Announcements :

The "SOS Global Market Cycles Report" will come out this week, Tuesday, April 7. And it will be out one day later in German to our German & Swiss SOS subscribers (please go to www.mma-europe.ch to order the German version of SOS). This SOS monthly report addresses 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 now in terms of the 72-, 18-, 4-year, and 50-week cycles. It also discusses the shorter cycles (primary and its phases) of the DJIA, German DAX, Netherlands AEX, the Australian All Ordinaries, Hang Seng of Hong Kong, the NASDAQ Composite Index, and the XAU Gold and Silver Mining index. The German edition also covers the Swiss Market Index (SMI). It also includes 3-star critical reversal dates for stock indices and a list of the major geocosmic signatures in effect for the following month, with their appropriate C/S values. For information.

We are going to have another webcast, a "Virtual On-line Discussion and Market Update with Raymond Merriman!" to take place on Saturday, April 18, 2009, just as Venus goes direct. Starting time is 12:00 PM EDT (that's 5:00 PM, GMT, or 9:00 AM, in Los Angeles). Via the modern technology of You--niversity.com, this "latest update discussion" on current markets (both long-term and short-term outlooks), can be heard in the comfort of your home or office. All you need is a computer with speakers. You will hear the live voice and see the latest charts on your computer screen that will be the focus of this presentation. You can ask questions by logging on to our webcast that day, and inputting a pin number that you will be given upon receipt of your reservation for this event. This webcast will analyze the stock market, Gold and Silver, currencies, grains, T-Notes, and Crude Oil. It is a webcast you won't want to miss if you are a trader or investor in any of these markets. The cost for this private discussion is $45.00. If you are interested in being part of this on line event, go to http://www.mmacycles.com/virtual to register on-line. Or drop us an email or fax (248-538-5296), or call us at 1-248-626-3034, and we will email instructions and pin number on how to participate. The webcast will be available for viewing for 30 days afterwards for those who participate, or for those who can't make that particular day.

For those interested in learning or improving your understanding of astrology, please note that a fantastic conference in Astrology is going to take place August 19-24, 2009, at the luxurious Oakbrook Hills Marriot Resort, just outside of Chicago (not far from O'Hare Airport). This will be the ISAR (International Society for Astrological Research) 2009 conference, featuring over 80 professional astrologers from all over the world, including Jeff Jawer, Rick Levine, Michael Lutin, Claude Weiss, Nick Campion, Verena Bachmann, and several Financial Astrologers, including myself. There will be a whole track on Financial Astrology, and I will be giving a one-day workshop on Financial Astrology the day after the main conference. For more information, and registration, please go to www.isar2009.com. For those who golf, note that this resort has one of the most impressive golf courses on the PGA tour. Golf where the pros golf, and learn astrology from some of the best astrologers in the world, all at the same time!

If you are an active short-term trader, you may be interested in 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-Notes, Corn, Soybeans, Wheat, Gold and Silver. The daily reports cover all stock indices listed above, as well as futures in Euro, T-Notes, Soybeans, Gold and Silver. Subscription to the daily report also includes the weekly report. For more information, go to http://www.mmacycles.com/services, 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".

You can now order Forecast for 2009 in four languages ! It will be available :
Japanese at http://www.toushinippou.co.jp,
German at www.mma-europe.ch and www.mma-europe.de
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 of you unable to attend our first "Forecast for 2009" speech (via the web) on Saturday, December 13, please know that you can order a a CD audio recording of this presentation at this time. The cost is $45.00 plus postage.

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.

As a side note, there are now only 4 boxes of the English version Forecast for 2012 book left for sale. It is projected that they will sell out in the next 3-5 weeks. There will be no reprints this year, so if you haven't ordered and you wish a copy, now is the time to place that order. This will be the third time in the past 4 years they have sold out.

Our MMA 2013 catalogue is now out. If you are interested in receiving this catalogue, you can download it directly Or just click here. A list of all our products and services and software programs is included therein.

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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