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

Note : There will be no weekly column next week, due to speaking engagements in Moscow, Russia. For more information on these presentations, please contact info@astrol.ru. The next column will be released in two weeks, for the week beginning June 15.

The Market Week in Review :

Heliocentric Mercury in Sagittarius, combined with the first passage of the 13-year Jupiter-Neptune conjunction cycle, continued to power many financial and stock markets to new multi-month highs last week. However, many stock indices around the world also continued to exhibit intermarket bearish divergence, as not all made new highs. This is important because we are now in another geocosmic critical reversal zone that will last through next week. If the bearish divergence pattern is not resolved this week, it could portend trouble for stocks throughout the world. If it is resolved, it could portend an escalation of "irrational exuberance", propelling these markets to much higher levels over the next few weeks. After all, one of the themes of Jupiter and Neptune in conjunction is "no boundaries". Anything and everything goes. If euphoria and hope sweep the investment community, everyone jumps on the rocket and the sky is the limit. If reality and worry start to emerge, then everyone jumps off the ship at the same time, and a panic ensues. This is not a case where the market climbs the "proverbial wall of worry". Instead, it is a case where the wall becomes a launching pad with no gravity to pull things down, or a perch from which investors fall off, only to discover there is no safety net below. No boundaries. No nets. And the sky (or the abyss) is the limit. You better think or swim.

In Europe, none of the indices we track made new highs on last week's rally. In Asia and the Pacific Rim, however, the Japanese Nikkei and Hang Seng index of Hong Kong did soar to their highest level in several months. India's Nifty Index is not far behind and may do the same this week. Australia's All Ordinaries index, on the other hand, fell far short of its recent high recorded on May 11. In South America, both Brazil's Bovespa and Argentina's Merval stock indices made new highs last week for this year. In North America, the NASDAQ Composite did too in the last minute of trading on Friday. But the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell well short of its May 20 high. Thus is the case for intermarket bearish divergence as we enter this current geocosmic critical reversal period. By the way, who do you think bought all those stocks in the last 5 minutes of trading on Friday, driving the DJIA up 70+ points? And why ? There may be a clue in the "Longer-Term Thoughts" section. But with Neptune signatures (the master of disguise) in such abundance that answer may never be correctly revealed (or admitted).

There was no divergence in crude oil and precious metals last week. Each of these commodities accelerated their torrid advance as heliocentric Mercury continued its passage through Sagittarius, typically a time when many commodities and currencies explode upwards. They did so in this instance too, but its effective time band of May 19-30 now comes to an end.

Short-Term Geocosmics :

Was the huge run up in precious metals, crude oil, and currencies against the U.S. Dollar a function of heliocentric Mercury in Sagittarius, or Jupiter conjunct Neptune? We shall see the answer to this question within the next few days.

If the correlation to this strong surge was heliocentric Mercury in Sagittarius, then any market that has rallied sharply since May 19 may be in for rude fall in the next ten days, as this planet will now enter the more sobering sign of Capricorn until June 9. Whereas the influence of Sagittarius can be very optimistic and speculative (some might say it is the sign of "the gambler"), Capricorn can be more demanding of hard evidence to support such sudden price increases. If there are sound and fundamental reasons to justify such a move, then it can continue.

If the astrological correlate to this rise in commodity and currency prices is more to do with the Jupiter-Neptune conjunction, then it is possible that this trip into "anti-gravity prices" will continue longer. Jupiter and Neptune will be close to one another through the middle of July, for Neptune also turned stationary retrograde on Thursday, and Jupiter will do the same on June 15. In retrograde motion, they will form their second exact conjunction on July 10. Since this is a longer-term 13-year planetary cycle, there is reason to think it will have greater influence than heliocentric Mercury transiting through Sagittarius and Capricorn.

But it is even more complicated than that. Next Friday, June 5, the transiting Sun will start its translation of a T-square to both Saturn and Uranus, lasting through June 17. This of course brings to the forefront the principles of the Saturn-Uranus opposition, which is the longer-term 45-year cycle that we associate with financial collapse and crisis, a condition that started in September 2008 and continues to worry investors even now. In fact, it is likely to worry investors well into 2010, when Jupiter and Mars will both translate the Saturn-Uranus opposition (July-August 2010).

I wish I could say that is the extent of this complicated geocosmic situation now in effect. But there is more. Two days after Jupiter goes retrograde (June 15), the Sun will transit in a trine to both Jupiter and Neptune, thus once again bringing to the forefront the Jupiter-Neptune conjunction principles. And then on July 1 and 6 respectively, first Venus and then Mars will square the Jupiter-Neptune conjunction, just a few days before their second passage on July 10. With so much Jupiter and Neptune in the picture, combined with the ongoing Saturn-Uranus opposition, perhaps financial astrologers can begin to understand why a case could be made for either a huge blow-off upwards in stock and/or commodity prices in the next few weeks, or a huge collapse. As you navigate through these unchartered waters, you must indeed learn to think or swim, float or croak. On a mundane level, these same aspects can correlate to extreme flooding conditions. On a political level, they can pertain to a great hoax, and the starting of false and sensational rumors that harm the reputation of others. It can be a time of alarmist announcements, perhaps as we see developing with North Korea this past week.

Long-Term Thoughts :

There is a saying we have here in Michigan that goes like this: "As General Motors goes, so goes the country and its economy". On Monday, June 1, General Motors (GM) - now affectionately (or sadly) referred to as "Government Motors" - is expected to declare bankruptcy. The U.S. government will now own 72.5% of GM (hence "Government Motors"), and the United Auto Workers (UAW) will own either 17.5% or 27.5%, depending on whether or not GM's bond holders will accept the government's offer to swap their bonds for 10% stock ownership. The alternative to not accepting the offer is not very attractive for either these bondholders or current GM stockholders, who will likely be left with... . nothing. As stated before, we are in unchartered waters, both politically and in terms of traditional business models.

In Business Astrology, transiting Pluto, Neptune, or Uranus in hard aspect to one's natal Venus or Jupiter is a classical bankruptcy aspect. It doesn't mean you will go bankrupt, but if you spend or invest your money unwisely, you could suffer great loss, even to the point of bankruptcy. It is a time when one needs to pursue a frugal course of action, and not take financial risks where the outcome is unknown. In the chart of the United States (July 2, 1776, or even July 4, 1776), transiting Pluto and Uranus are indeed entering into hard aspects to the natal Venus and Jupiter of the United States, 2008-2011. Let's hope these "investments" made on our behalf (yes, Americans, we will all now be the proud owners of GM), have been well thought out, and the risks are indeed minimal. Pardon me if I have some doubts. I am a Capricorn, which cosmically entitles me to have moments of doubt. Don't be surprised if heliocentric Mercury entering Capricorn this week reveals that other investors begin to exhibit some doubts too.

Announcements :

We are pleased to announce our new official Japanese web site. Here you can read our free weekly report in Japanese every week. You can purchase several of our books and subscription reports in Japanese, including or new weekly Gold report, Cash Currencies report, and both the MMA Cycles and MMA Japanese Markets Cycles reports. If you read Japanese, please feel free to check out this new site, created by Toshi Nippou Ltd. of Tokyo

We are also pleased to announce the formation of our new Weekly Cash Currencies Report in English, to start the first week of June 2009. This report will cover our weekly analysis of cash Euro Currency, the Dollar-Yen, and the Euro-Dollar markets. For further information on this new subscription report, please visit.

The monthly MMA Cycles and MMA Japanese Cycles Reports was issued this week, Tuesday and Wednesday, one day later than usual due to the Memorial Holiday. The "MMA Cycles Report" is our market advisory report for traders of the U.S. stock indices, T-Notes, Gold, Silver, Euro currency, Swiss Franc, Grains, and Crude Oil. The "MMA Japan Cycles Report" covers the Nikkei, Dollar/Yen, and JGB Bonds. For more information and subscription.

For those interested in learning This is a good time to sign up for the ISAR 2009 conference, as a window for a wonderful discount closes this weekend. For those interested in learning or improving your understanding of astrology, this 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 like Christeen Skinner, Robert Hitt, Grace Morris, Roy Gillett, and myself. There will be a whole track on Financial Astrology, and I will be giving a one-day workshop on Financial Astrology, specializing in the Stock and Gold markets, on Monday, August 24. For more information, and registration, please go to www.isar2009.com.

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".

Please note that the English and German versions of Forecast 2009 book are all sold out now. We do have some Spanish translation copies available through our Buenos Aires affiliate, and Japanese copies might also still be available through our Tokyo affiliate. We understand there may be English copies available on Amazon.com at prices starting at $149. Pre-publication announcements for the 2010 edition will be announced in late July.

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. 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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