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

The Market Week in Review :

Three more weeks. That's how much time is left in this unusual continuation of the first two passes of Jupiter conjunct Neptune. The first passage of this 13-year cycle took place May 27 and the second takes place July 10. But since both planets turned retrograde during this time band, it seems as if they are conjunct the entire time. In fact, the midpoint of these first two passages is happening right now, June 18-19. And in typical Neptunian fashion, the investment community acts like it is totally confused or paralyzed. It can't decide which way to go. It is not usual to see distribution tops form under such Neptune aspects. That is, the market trades in a rather narrow range - but mostly near the top of that range - until the Neptune effect passes by. Think of Neptune as "fog" and the midpoint as being right in the middle of "the fog". You know you are close to something, but you are not exactly sure what it is. In this case astrology can be helpful to the investment community. What you may be close to is a top in equity markets. What you may be close to is economic data and political reality that is a little harsher than you were led to believe, or wanted to believe. It is nearly impossible to make a well-informed decision right now. This is to say that rumors and intentionally misleading information can have a powerful impact. Facts and convictions, on the other hand, may be in short supply.

As we look around the world, we see a very mixed picture. All equity markets we track fell last week, bottoming on Wednesday or Thursday. They rallied after that, but not above their highs of the previous week. In some cases like Europe, these lows - and the weekly closes - were below the 25-day moving average, which is bearish. In other cases like Hong Kong, Japan, Australia and the NASDAQ, the lows did not take out the moving average, which is more bullish. Since the lows occurred during the Jupiter transits (June 15-17), there is reason to think the market could now rally again. But because several are still well below their 25-day moving average, it can also be argued that the decline is not yet over and the rally may be minimal. The fact is that these declines have not been very substantial (less than 4%), and most markets are still within striking distance of their highs for this year recorded earlier this month. In other words, the pattern may very well be that of a "distribution top", as opposed to a "climatic spike".

Like the equity markets, crude oil and grain prices also fell last week from their highs of the prior week. Gold and Silver, as well as currencies against the Dollar, bottomed early last week and staged a modest rally, but still closed well below their 25-day moving averages.

Short-Term Geocosmics :

Last week was an illustration of the difference between the principles of classical astrology versus those of financial astrology. Classical (or modern) astrology tends to think of trines - especially those involving Jupiter transits - as positive, and coinciding with crests in equity markets. But financial astrology postulates that markets don't care whether it's a soft aspect (like a trine) or a hard aspect (like a square or opposition). In either case, it will reverse whatever the trend is going into that signature. On Monday of last week, Jupiter turned retrograde, which highlights the principles of hope and optimism. On Wednesday, June 17, the Sun formed a trine to both Jupiter and Neptune, as well as a square to Uranus. One would think the two trines plus the Jupiter station would coincide with a crest. But to the contrary, it was the low of the week in many markets, like equities and precious metals.

On Monday, June 22, there will be a new moon on the Summer Solstice (the first degree of Cancer). This also happens to conjunct the USA Venus-Jupiter, which could be a harbinger of some good news for the country. However, it is also a New Moon on the natal Pluto of the Federal Reserve Board chart, and opposite its natal Sun. It may not be a good period for the FED, which is about to come under some intense investigation (see Longer-Term Thoughts). Venus and Mars will also be in conjunction, and both trine Saturn, on June 21-22. This too highlights governmental concerns about financial markets, and especially those that influence interest rates and currency prices, such as the FED. Once these signatures pass, there is nothing remarkable in the heavens until July 1-10. And the signatures of that time are quite remarkable, just in time for America's 233 rd birthday.

Long-Term Thoughts :

"Related, in Jackson's mind, was the issue of the national debt (the money owed by the federal government). To him debt was dangerous, for debt put power in the hands of creditors - and if power was in the hands of creditors, it could not be in the hands of the people, where Jackson believed it belonged". This is a quote from " American Lion : Andrew Jackson in the White House", by John Meachem (Random House, 2008). Andrew Jackson abolished the Second National Bank, the central bank of the USA, and created the first surplus in the history of the U.S. Treasury in 1834. Then stock market roared to new all-time highs. But within 8 years (1842), the United States was mired in the worst Depression of that century with a new record debt. And it wasn't until December 23, 1913 that a new central bank, in the form of the Federal Reserve Board, was re-established in the United States. At that time, the Sun and Pluto were in opposition, at 0-1 degrees of Capricorn and Cancer - the same degree where the new moon will take place this Monday. The theme of this new moon, therefore, will be the transformation of the role and power - and even survival - of the entity itself.

The past few days have seen an amazing amount of activity regarding the recent actions by the FED, as well as a major proposed overhaul of financial regulations. On June 11, the House of Representatives passed House Resolution 1207, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act, sponsored by Congressman Ron Paul. This bill is intended to audit the Federal Reserve Board's financial dealings. As stated by Ron Paul on rawstory.com, "To understand how unwise it is to have the Federal Reserve, one must first understand the magnitude of the privileges they have. The have been given the power to create money, by the trillions, and to give it to their friends, under any terms they wish, with little or no meaningful oversight or accountability". Pretty strong words, but entirely consistent with an entity about to be questioned under a transiting Pluto it its Sun, in opposition to its own natal Pluto.

Then on Wednesday of last week (June 17), Barack Obama " ... proposed sweeping "new rules of the road" for the nation's financial system... the greatest regulatory transformation since the Great Depression", according to an associated press story written by Jim Kuhnhenn and Martin Crutsinger. "The Obama plan would give new powers to the Federal Reserve to oversee the entire financial system". But not everyone is on board about giving the FED these new powers. In addition to Ron Paul's bill to audit the FED (and eventually end it), Senator Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, has "advocated an alternative plan to strip the Federal Reserve of its regulatory role entirely and create a new consolidated bank regulator...." It appears that we are about to witness something not only as sweeping as what happened after the "Great Depression", but perhaps more sweeping than the days of 1834 when the original Central Bank of the USA was abolished. We are about to witness one of the cornerstone events that will mark this "Cardinal Climax" period of 2008-2015, a period described in great detail in the Forecast 2009 book and also the lead article in this month's "Mountain Astrologer" magazine, written by Yours Truly. We are about to witness the power of Pluto in Capricorn, as the midpoint of the Saturn-Uranus opposition, which will peak October 2009 through August 2010. We haven't seen anything quite like this in our lifetime. I expect the financial markets to respond accordingly as a result of this "shake out".

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 will be issued this week, Monday and Tuesday. The "MMA Cycles Report" 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. 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".

Stay tuned to these pages for an announcement on the annual pre-publication special offer for the Forecast 2010 book, coming in the next few weeks. Once the announcement is made, we will begin to take orders for this book that has sold out the past three years. Order early and make sure you get next year's Forecasts!

lease 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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