MMA WEEKLY - Financial Astrology commentary, Financial Market Analyst and Market Timer

The printed version of Forecast 2014 will be translated into several different languages again this year as follows :

- Chinese Dutch Deutsch Japanese Russian Spanish Italiano

Each of these will also offer the English version of Forecast 2014, as will our Chinese distributor : "Your work is essential to anyone who is serious in this field. I can't thank you enough for it".

Go to the sheet for Downloading the video for the Ultimate book on stock market timing.

Due to travel obligations and this weekend's workshop on Financial Markets in Boulder, Colorado, this week's column will be brief. Normal column will resume next week.

The Market Week in Review :

This is a crazy world and a crazy time we live in.

On Thursday, after USA markets closed, the S&P ratings agency downgraded Spain's credit rating for the second time this year. It is, of course, completely consistent with the forthcoming Uranus-Pluto waxing square aspect that makes its first of seven passages on June 24, 2012. They are close enough to this aspect now to have an influence, and have been since late July 2011 when the USA's own Triple AAA credit rating was downgraded a notch for the first time ever. So how did stock markets around the world react ? Well, at first they sold off modestly. But then many - including the USA - continued to rally to new multi-week highs. Likewise the USA Treasuries continued to rally near their all-time highs. Go figure.

Well, wait minute. Maybe you don't have to go figure. Maybe it won't do any good to go figure, because when Uranus is dominant, no amount of logic or rational thought will work. If anything, Uranus tends to be illogical and irrational, albeit very innovative and unconventional. It pertains to the unexpected, and it probably has more to do with "contrary thought and behavior" than any other planetary dynamic. We are going to see a lot of that in the next three years. Come to think of it, we have already seen a lot of that since 2008 when Uranus first came into opposition to Saturn, setting off the 2008-2015 Cardinal Climax. This is just the next layer of this ongoing Twilight Zone saga.

I think it is quite safe to say there will be more downgrades of various nations' credit ratings in the next three years. Maybe equity and Treasury markets will continue to rally on such great news. But I wouldn't bet on it. More likely than not, in my opinion, is that eventually these downgrades will have a chilling effect on many financial markets. After all, the same thing happened in 1873-1878, which was the longest economic depression in the USA history, and the last time Uranus was in a waxing square with Pluto. That is, the USA stock market was making all-time highs, and staying quite closer to those highs until 1876, when the Uranus-Pluto square commenced its first exact passage. The country was in an economic depression but the stock market was strong. In the next two years, however, as the Uranus-Pluto square was fully in force, the stock market finally collapsed. Irrationality and illogic finally caved in to another Uranus dynamic : panic and loss of control. It doesn't have to be negative, but when it is, that is how it often materializes. Things are just very different, and we have to learn to adjust quickly.

Speaking of illogic and irrationality, many of the stock markets of the world were under pressure for the first half of last week. On Wednesday, April 25, The NASDAQ Composite was at its lowest level since March 8, in anticipation of a poor earnings report about to be released by Apple. But in typical Uranus fashion, Apple's earnings were anything but poor. They were spectacular and stock indices all around the world shot up sharply. By Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had reached 13,266, only 31 points of its three-year high of 13,297 achieved on April 2. In Europe, the German DAX and Netherlands AEX indices were at their lowest levels since December-January on Monday, April 23. But that was not the case in the Zurich SMI or London FTSE. All of these markets rallied nicely into Friday, setting up an excellent case of intermarket bullish divergence signals, a condition which also exists in the USA as well as Asia and the Pacific Rim. The biggest losers of last week were in Argentina and Moscow, whose stock indices continued to plunge all week. In Argentina, the Merval index is about to break below its lows of October 4.

Gold and Silver had an interesting week too. Both were depressed into mid-week. Silver fell to 2992, its lowest level since January. Gold fell to 1623.60, which was above its recent low on our April 4 critical reversal date at 1613. Thus this was another case of intermarket bullish divergence, and both metals rose smartly into the end of the week, suggesting that their primary cycle lows may be in. There are a couple of resistance areas that have to be surpassed to confirm this bias, but we will cover those in our weekly subscription reports due out tomorrow.

Short-Term Geocosmics :

As discussed last week, there are no outstanding geocosmic signatures on the horizon until Venus turns retrograde on May 15. We expect all financial markets to either go sideways in a congestion range, or trend gradually in one direction from now until then. In the meantime, we will trade off the highest weighted value solar-lunar reversal zones, as posted every day for Stock indices and Silver on our web site at www.mmacycles.com.

Longer Term Thoughts :

Last week I announced that I will be starting a new direction in life in the next year, involving a mentor-apprenticeship program on Financial Market Timing and Analysis, according to the unique methodology I have developed over the past 30+ years. I didn't expect any response yet, as I am still developing the concept. But... I got a huge response! I didn't know there was such an interest out there. I mean, I knew there was interest, but the response I received in the last week was overwhelming and humbling.

The project is called OLMTA - the "On-Line Market Timing Academy" - which is the name of the domain I purchased in 1993 and have kept all along, knowing that someday I would transition into this phase of my life. The point has come now where I realize that a lot of people know a little bit about many of the research studies I have published and the trading models I have formulated, but the integration of all of these studies and models needs to be taught to those who are as passionate about this study as I am - and want to see it continued well into the future after my days as an active market analyst are completed (say, about 10 years from now). Don't worry : I will still research and write books until I am done with this body. But, I have to care for this temple that I call my body, which means I will have to gradually slow down, or it won't serve these purposes that much longer. Mortality is a hard issue for me to fathom right now, and I know the key is to keep myself healthy, but when Pluto aspects so many of one's natal planets as it has mine over the past 4 years... well, you begin to realize what you have to do if you wish to look back and say "This lifetime was a truly remarkable one." For me, it has been already. But there is much more that I would still like to do.

In any event, OLMTA is being planned for launch in early 2013. Prior to that, I would like to have an introductory weekend workshop for traders and investors (and anyone else) who know very little about astrology, to introduce would-be apprentices to the ephemerides (tables of planetary positions) in order to know where planets are at any given moment ; what they mean and how they used to determine a geocosmic critical reversal date, which is one of the cornerstones of financial market timing. In a sense, this would be a beginning course on Astrology, as it applies to financial markets. And then next year I would like to commence the actual OLMTA curriculum, which will involve 48 classes of 90 minutes each, spaced out in 8 separate three-day weekends over a two-year period, in the months of March, May, July and September 2013 and then again in 2014. The ten apprentices (minimum) will be those who are able to attend the classes and after-class discussions in person, although the classes themselves will be given via a webcast to others who wish to learn in a non-apprentice role.

This is the projected plan for now. Future announcements on the OLMTA project will be uploaded onto our web site at www.mmacycles.com, and via email to those who have expressed an interest. However, like all plans made under the dominance of Uranus and Pluto in one's chart, changes or modifications could happen as a result of events that I cannot yet foresee. Speaking of which... this Uranus-Pluto waxing square will take place at 6 - 15° of cardinal signs. In prior columns, I have discussed how this will possibly transform the lives of anyone who has natal planets there. Of course, all people born in the first half of cardinal signs qualify, which is about 15% of the world. You have recently gone through Uranus and Pluto themes in the past 4 years, or you are about to.

But there are also generations of people who will be affected, such as the baby boomers who have natal Neptune and/or Uranus at 6-15° of Libra or Cancer respectively. That whole generation, from the mid-1940's through the mid-1950's, is powerfully affected by this dramatic transit. But there are other large groups of people who were born with Uranus or Pluto in 6-15° of Capricorn (January 1987-November 1992), Pluto in 6-15° Libra (November 1973-September 1978) or Uranus in 6-15° Libra (October 1969-August 1972). In other words, this Uranus-Pluto square is going to have generational as well as personal and individual manifestations. This debt explosion (Uranus-Pluto) is having huge consequences to huge numbers of people worldwide who are now being forced to readjust their future plans in ways they never prepared for.

In a very real sense, this is an evolutionary challenge for all of Humankind. It will likely not only transform the way we handle money and in the future expect our leaders to manage the monies of our nations, but it will also alter the expectations and demands we make upon those leaders in other ways. Power is undergoing a transformation, from the leaders of government, banking, and business into the hands of the individual - the "people" - who are undergoing an evolutionary drive to connect with one another. And since money and power are virtually the same thing in today's world, well... you can understand this movement to redistribute wealth by many of today's political leaders. It taps into a popular but raw collective nerve. And in typical Uranus-Pluto symbolism, it is like setting a match to a stick of dynamite. We will discuss the dangers and opportunities this presents in future columns as we head into the 2012 Presidential Elections, both in the USA and France. Astrologically, 2012-2020 is like 1776-1786 all over again.

To be continued... (next week)

Announcements :

!!! We have now added the Gold (GLD) and Silver (SLV) exchange traded funds (ETFs) to the markets we now analyze in our daily, weekly, and monthly subscription reports. We do this because so many subscribers now use our reports to trade ETF's rather than future contacts. The initial feedback has been very positive, so we will now make this part of the each report.

The DVD of the Denver Workshop on Financial Market Timing will be available May 7!!! This financial markets workshop offers a completely unique and original perspective, integrating :
1) Market Timing studies
2) Price Objective calculations
3) Technical Analysis
4) Pattern Recognition studies
5) Trend Analysis.

The primary focus of this workshop is on Market Timing Studies, particularly Cycles Analysis and Geocosmic Studies, as leading indicators that identify when to anticipate a reversal in all financial markets. Gold and the U.S. stock market are studied in great detail, especially regarding their current status. There is a wealth of timely and valuable information in this DVD, especially pertaining the forthcoming Venus retrograde period (May 15-June 27), the forthcoming Uranus-Pluto square of June 24, 2012, lasting through March 2015, and the important Jupiter correlation to stock market cycles coming up August-November 2012 and March-May 2013.
The cost for this 4-hour DVD workshop is $180.00 plus postage. To order, or call Amber at 1-248-626-3034. If you are a trader or investor who appreciates the value of market timing - especially in the next few months - this is a presentation you will not want to miss! .

We are down to the last couple of DVD's of the "Forecast 2012" webcast, which went extremely well. Perhaps it was our best webcast ever, according to feedback received. The cost for one of the remaining copies is $59.95 plus postage. To order go to our home page and scroll down to the announcement. For those ordering CD's, a PDF file of the charts will be emailed along with the order. "I just wanted to say that Ray's presentation was EXCELLENT! Great presentation and the WEBINAR was outstanding. Once again...THANK YOU !" Matt M., trader, Boulder, CO. on making reservations.

NEW! Now available Mini-Congress 'Outlook for 2012' on CD !!! Recordings of the congress "Outlook for 2012", held January 21, 2012 in Amsterdam, are now available on CD, with audio and PDFs of PowerPoint slides. All lectures are spoken in English.
The following presentations are included on this CD :

1) 2012 End Time of Dawning by Irma Schogt (20 minutes) ;

2) Happy New Year by Drs. Karen Hamaker-Zondag (20 minutes , regarding ECB and Federal Reserve Board) ;

3) 2012 = The Center of the Storm by Antonia Langsdorf (20 minutes, regarding Mayan calendar and astrology);

4) Forecast for 2012 by Raymond Merriman (1 hour).

Total length 2 hours, with PowerPoint slides sent online in a PDF document. Cost is $55.00 plus postage. Please go there, or www.mmacycles.com for ordering info.

Our new 2013 MMA Catalogue of products and services is now out!!! You can download it in PDF. The ordering page is the last page of the catalogue. This is especially useful for those outside of the USA, since we do not mail these out by mail unless requested.

If you are an active short-term trader, or even if you are an investor who likes to keep up with our current thoughts on financial markets, you may be interested in our Weekly or even Daily Market reports with short-term trading recommendations, (see a sample there, of the weekly). It is the only way I keep in touch with traders on a daily or even weekly basis, as I no longer offer personal consultations. 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, Euro-Yen cash, T-Notes, Soybeans, Crude Oil, Gold and Silver. The daily reports cover all stock indices listed above, as well as futures in Euro, T-Notes, Soybeans, Gold and Silver. Both reports provide trading strategies and recommendations for position traders as well as for shorter-term aggressive traders. Subscription to the daily report also includes the weekly report.
If you want more information call our offices at 1-248-626-3034.
These reports are extremely valuable to those who trade ETF's (Exchange Traded Funds). In the words of one of our subscribers :"I am really pleased with your recommendations through the Daily and Weekly Trade Recommendations. I have used them to trade gold and silver stocks in my IRA. In the last eight years I increased my account from $60,000 to $712,000. Thanks for your excellent publications". - Bryden C., Small Business Owner, Illinois.

The Ultimate Book on Stock Market Timing, Volume 5 : Price Objectives and Technical Analysis is out !. The comments and reviews are starting to come in, and we will post them here over the next few weeks".I am a long time Merriman Market Analysis Newsletter reader. It has never ceased to amaze me how accurate those levels are given in the newsletter. I often wonder how Ray calculates those levels. By setting up my trades using those levels together with his timing methodology, I have profited greatly. I sincerely feel that Volume 5 of the series finally gives the whole investment community the full story about Ray's lifetime work and the complete description of his financial astrology methodology. It will be a great treasure to all serious market participants". Kenneth Laio, Trader and Chief Technology Officer, Sequoia Media Inc., Beijing, China.
It took two years to write this one, which is par for each of the five books of this series that started in 1997. That was around the time I decided I wanted to"tap into the soul of the stock market", like there is such a thing. Turns out there is, in my opinion. But it depends on how you interpret"soul". If you accept that it is a connection between the observable and the intuitive, that patterns do exist and like oracles, they oftentimes do reveal the future, then it exists. This is a book describing the tools that serious traders that I know use. I use them. Many of my subscribers use them, although not that many know how I calculate price targets to go along with market timing. This book identifies the formulas I personally use to calculate price targets, and the trading plans I find that work using these market timing and technical indicators. This book is packed with powerful tools (signals), and if you take the time to learn these tools properly, your chances of being a successful trader will increase tremendously, IMHO. The book is 300 pages, printed in perfect bind format, gloss cover, 8-1/2" x 11" size. The retail price of this new book is $144.00. The publication of Volume 5 will complete the project that started in 1996, and covered approximately 1600 pages of studies and strategies for all types of traders and investors, using our market timing methods. In all, this is a complete and unified approach to analyzing (and trading) financial markets, and especially stock markets. If you are interested in this unique and integrated methodology for analyzing and forecasting stock indices, you can save big bucks by ordering all five volumes, or choice of any four now, or just go to www.mmacycles.com and scroll down to the announcement. If ordering all five volumes, you will save $99.00 !.
For more information on this book, go to YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch ?v=PnplAS5m2AI, describing this new book. It is"the missing link". You may want to check this video out, as it contains some interesting long-term tips. You can also download that video there and read more comments.

The monthly MMA Cycles report and its companion MMA Japanese Cycles and MMA European Cycles reports went out last week. If you are subscriber to any these monthly reports and did not receive it, let us know at once via our email.

- This report covers our long term analysis of the stock market (DJIA and S&P futures), Gold, Silver, T-Notes, Euro and Swiss Franc currencies, grains and crude oil. It also provides the list of geocosmic and solar-lunar reversal zones for the 1-2 months. This report comes out Monday night to subscribers.
- The MMA Japanese Markets Cycles report covers the Nikkei, JGB Bonds, and the Dollar-Yen.
- The new MMA Europe Cycles report covers the German DAX, Swiss SMI, and Netherlands AEX stock indices, each in english only and will be available on Wednesday.
For subscription information, please go to our web site, or call us at 1-248-626-3034. If you are not a subscriber, you can check this service out on a 2-month trial basis for only $50.00.

Upcoming Events :

May 24-29, 2012 : UAC !!! The world's largest astrological conference. Taking place at the New Orleans Marriott Hotel. Go to www.uacastrology.com. There will be an awesome Financial Track, featuring some of the top Financial Astrologers and researchers in the world.

June 23 : Amsterdam : A special 5-hour workshop on "The Gold Market : Forecasting the Price of Gold and Silver" 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM, Hotel Park Plaza Victoria. Amsterdam, Damrak 1-5, Amsterdam 1012 LG, Netherlands. Sponsored by Schogt Market Timing. This is a special workshop on precious metals you will not want to miss!!! Cost is €345 ex VAT. Subscribers of any MMA reports (trials excluded) receive a 15% discount. For further information, please go to, or call 31 (02) 294 415 917, or by fax at 31 (02) 294-415-918 to register for an exciting event in one of the world's most exciting cities at the most exciting time of the year: the first Uranus-Pluto square will be taking place then, right near the summer solstice! This will be special, and a great opportunity to meet some very impressive market timers who will be present. Register now as seating is limited ! .

August 2-6, 2012 : Midwest Astrology Conference, in Ann Arbor, MI, Holiday Inn. Pre-seminar workshop on Financial Astrology, Thursday, August 2, with Raymond Merriman. More details soon.

September 14-15 : San Diego, CA. Lecture on world economy and national election, and then a . More details shortly.

The MMA Catalogue of products and services for 2013 is now out!!! You can download it in PDF. The ordering page is the last page of the catalogue. This is especially useful for those outside of the USA, since we do not mail these out by mail unless requested.

We are pleased to announce that the Spanish publication of"Basic Principles of Geocosmic Studies for Financial Market Timing" has just been completed. For more information and ordering, please contact www.lecochonsideral.info/semana.html.

We also have our new CD available :"The Cardinal Climax 2008-2015 : Investment Opportunities and Dangers". This 75-minute CD outlines the most powerful geocosmic configuration of our lifetime : The Cardinal Climax of 2008-2015. This presentation examines the historical, long-term geocosmic signatures that are present 2008-2015, how they correlated to economic crises in the past, and how they will likely impact various financial markets and investment opportunities this time. In fact, many of the themes are already underway. Approximately 75 minutes, with PDF file of charts used: $25.00 plus postage.

I am oftentimes asked for recommendations of a money manager who uses my methods, since I won't manage other people's money. The thing is, almost all money managers I know use their own systems. But many subscribe to my services and share my thoughts about the future of the economy, various financial markets, and how to position one's portfolio along these lines. One money manager who subscribes to our services that I would suggest for those looking to structure a longer-term portfolio, such as a retirement account, is Duke O'Neill of Boulder, Colorado. He can be reached at dukeoneil1@gmail.com, or 1-(303) 545-5837. For those looking for a professional trader of commodity and futures contract might consider Ted Lee Fisher at ted.fisher@comcast.net. Ted is a legend in financial futures and has a seat on the CME. Both are very knowledgeable of the tools I use, of the way I am looking at markets, and yet each makes their own decisions as to exactly when to enter and exit any market. They will be more than happy to assist you.

To the above list, I would also like to recommend long-term MMA subscriber Erwin Brunner of Zurich, Switzerland. Mr. Brunner is the founder of BrunnerInvest AG. One of his five funds was awarded the"Best in-house fund of funds" in the world recently. Mr. Brunner is a former director of the Swiss Banking Corporation (today it is known as UBS), and a general director of Rothschild Bank in Zurich. As an independent wealth manager for high net worth individuals and institutional clients only, he places his clients into the funds of the best performing fund managers in the world, via his own research and experience. For high net worth readers interested in Mr. Brunner's funds, please contact him through www.brunnerinvest.ch.

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.

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.

Top of the page