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

This year's printed version of Forecast 2016 will also available in five other languages, as follows :

Each of these will also offer the English version of Forecast 2016, 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.

THE HARD COPY, ENGLISH EDITION OF FORECAST 2016, HAS SOLD OUT! There will not be a second printing. However, eBook copies may still be purchased. That's the beauty of this new electronic age and books. You never sell out of eBooks.

Go to the sheet for Downloading the video for the preview of what to expect in this exciting and informative webminar (10-01-2016). For the German version, go to "antonias sterne" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-V2z5l-UOwk

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

Review and Preview :

It was a week in which stocks markets of the world rocked back and forth every day until Friday. For instance, starting with Friday of the prior week (January 22), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 211 points, then down 208 points, then up 282 points, then down 223 points, then up only 125 points on Thursday, January 28. The back-and-forth triple digit changes ended on Friday, January 29, when - for the first time in over a week - the DJIA was up very sharply. It closed up 396 points, which accounted for more than the 372-point gain registered for the week.

So, with its biggest weekly gains of the year, does this mean the bull market in equities is back ? No, not yet. From a cyclical pattern point of view, it is still a bear market until indices start exceeding the highs of their previous primary cycle. In the DJIA, that means exceeding the 17,977 high of November 3. Until then, the market continues the classic bear market pattern of consecutively lower primary cycle crests and troughs. That pattern has to break before this is a new bull market. This is how cycle studies define a bull or bear market, and not by the almost meaningless measurement of a 20% gain or loss that ineffectively defines bull and bear markets in the popular press. However, if using a percentage gauge (instead of chart pattern gauge), 20% is not without some merit. The only problem is that this is not a reliable indicator of the future, for oftentimes a bear market ends shortly after the DJIA has fallen 20%. In our study of 4-year stock market cycles published in The Ultimate Book on Stock market Timing, Volume 1 : Cycles and Patterns in the Indexes , it was shown that 12 of 30 (40%) four-year cycle troughs lost 17-29% of their value from their crest. If you sold your stock portfolio out as soon as the market dropped 20%, chances are you would be exiting near the bottom. Is that a good thing ? No. Is that a common occurrence ? Yes. Investors typically sell out near the bottom, and labeling equities as a bear market just because it has fallen 20% only contributes to that maddening decision. Will it happen again ? Probably. In fact, it probably happened during these past two weeks, for one of the maddening planetary aspects is now well underway in 2016 : Saturn in waning square to Neptune. This combination is not known for thinking clearly or objectively. It is not known for collecting facts first before acting. It is more known for acting upon fear and panic, of making false assumptions that can later prove to be regretted, once the facts do become known.

In other markets, crude oil enjoyed its best week of the year, rallying about 25% off its 12-year lows of the prior week. Gold tested 1130 in the middle of last week, its highest mark in nearly three months. Silver soared to its highest levels since December 7, and Ten-Year Treasury Notes are testing their yearly highs as of Friday's close. All in all, it was a very good week for most financial and commodity markets.

Short-Term Geocosmics :

U.S. stocks closed more than 2 percent higher Friday, the last trading day of January, after the Bank of Japan unexpectedly adopted a negative interest rate policy for the first time. Encouraging earnings reports, a better-than-expected Chicago PMI report and some stabilization in oil prices also helped push equities higher. Evelyn Cheng, "Stocks End Up 2% After BOJ Move; Still Worst Month for NASDAQ Since '10", www.CNBC.com.

Geocosmic activity will begin to increase this week. When combined with political elections and economic reports that are also due to start this week, we may find several financial markets poised to make large price swings. The Bank of Japan's decision to go negative on interest rates collapsed the Yen and strengthened the US Dollar, which puts the Fed in a difficult position. On Friday, February 5, the employment reports for January will be released. If the jobs report is solid again, this will put more upward on the Dollar because the Fed will then be expected to stay on course to raise their short-term rates. This in turn creates pressure on U.S. companies that do business overseas. It is hard to sell products and services that are comparatively expensive due to rising currency values. Jupiter (gains) is still in Virgo (work force) until September, which implies the labor market will keep growing. However, when the payroll numbers are announced on February 5, the Moon will be in Capricorn, so the growth in new jobs may not meet estimates this month. Although that may be positive for the treasury markets, currencies, and commodity markets (like precious metals), it may not bode well for stocks and the U.S. Dollar.

Friday, February 5, is also the day that Venus will begin a 2-day translation with the Uranus/Pluto separating square. That is, on February 5, Venus (money) conjoins Pluto (debt), and on the next day, Venus will square Uranus (surprises, technology, media). These are the kind of geocosmic patterns that can stop a short-term trend right in its tracks, leading to a sharp reversal. Already last week, the Congressional Budget Office announced that the nation's (USA) deficit has begun to rise again. According to the Wall Street Journal's editorial titled "The Deficit Rises Again", published January 26, "The deficit is rising again largely because spending is climbing rapidly again, an estimated 6% this year, or triple the rate of inflation... ObamaCare subsidies will increase no less than 11%... now for the bad news. CBO estimates that deficits will continue to rise each year after Mr. Obama leaves office... This is the fiscal time bomb that Mr. Obama leaves his successor, thank you very much". That's Venus and Pluto in Capricorn now, the same dynamic duo that began the Great Recession in 2008 when they both moved into Capricorn together. What goes around comes around, or in the vernacular of astrology, "As above, so below". Planetary cycles coincide with cycles in human activity. Always have, always will.

It doesn't end there. The next two days, February 7-8, there will be a new moon in Aquarius square Mars in Scorpio. Many analysts will attribute the recent rise in Gold prices to turmoil in the Chinese markets and possibly the prospect of further stimulus from the ECB, and now negative interest rates in Japan (a stimulus move that may be followed by the ECB). But for us, this is simply normal bullish price behavior for Gold with Mars in Scorpio, as covered in detail in our recent webinar, as well as our recent MMA Cycles Report and the Forecast 2016 Book. It may not be over yet, but these same studies indicate that it may not last beyond February either.

Besides the nonfarm payroll report on February 5, there is also the matter of the first USA primary elections for 2016, to be held Iowa and New Hampshire, on February 1 and 9. These geocosmic signatures suggest surprises here too. Will Donald Trump's petulant decision to avoid a female journalist who tends to ask tough questions, and thus bow out of last Thursday's final Republican debate, hurt him in these first two primaries ? It could, with these geocosmic aspects.

Yet these surprises are not limited to the USA. The Venus translation of Uranus and Pluto occurs at 16-17 degrees of Capricorn, conjunct French President Hollande's Moon. The new Moon in Aquarius, square Mars in Scorpio, takes place in 18-19 degrees of fixed signs, forming a T-square to Hollande's Sun. This could mean that Hollande personally is under criticism (and support, because of Venus) for some act or decision, or France itself could be in the line of fire of some confrontational force (Mars involved here too).

This is similar to the Mercury stationary direct of late January that was conjunct Pluto, square Uranus, and forming a T-square to Russian President Vladimir Putin's natal Sun. With Mercury/Pluto ruling investigative reporting, it correlated with the release of a special UK investigation into the Plutonium poisoning death of a former Soviet KGB spy who defected to London in the late 1990's. The investigation concluded that Putin probably approved the murder, typical of Mercury stationary conjunct Pluto, and square Putin's Sun. But did he ? Saturn square Neptune, in effect all year, suggests we should be careful of what we read and hear, for facts are not always in ample supply compared to the abundance of allegations, accusations, and efforts to discredit others. It is everywhere this year.

For more on this, please visit www.youtube.com/user/raymondmerriman. This weekend we will post a new YouTube video on the geocosmic situation for the first part of February, in which German journalist/astrologer Antonia Langsdorf interviews Raymond Merriman on these and other geocosmic signatures related to financial markets and mundane, world, events. This interview is also available at www.youtube.com/user/starantonialangsdorf.

Longer-Term Thoughts and mundane astrology :

Will resume next week.

To be continued (next week).

Announcements :

The recording of Raymond Merriman's "Forecast 2016" speech given last Sunday, January 10, is now available for download via an MP4 recording. It is not difficult to download this event. It is a little over two hours long, and covered the outlook for interest rates, real estate market, grains and foods, gold, silver, the USA stock market, crude oil, and the U.S. Dollar. The cost is $45.00. In typical Mercury retrograde fashion, there was a slight disruption in this webinar, caused by a sudden ice storm that interrupted the internet transmission for slightly less than 5 minutes. A transcript of that section of the speech, along with the power point slides that were used, are included with your order of the MP4. Get ready for 2016! ORDER NOW AND RESERVE YOUR SPOT IN THIS WEBINAR. Call MMA at 1-248-626-3034, or email ordersmma@msn.com. Or, go to the www.mmacycles.com website to make your reservation.

"I have followed your forecasts closely for many years, and always order your Forecast Book. They are always quite brilliant, but each year seems to exceed the previous one. This one is a complete masterpiece. You keep the bar on our subject very, very high, and for that I respect your work enormously and thank you too. The Forecast Books are so detailed it is like publishing an entire book every year, on top of everything else you do. I just had to write and say how delighted I am that I came across your work all those years ago. You can never stop writing these Forecast Books of course; the deal is that you have to go on forever! You give mankind such a service with these. I always follow your wise judgements week by week too. Thank you, thank you, thank you!" P.G. author, UK.

We are pleased to announce the winners of our "Pick the High in the Dow Jones Industrial Average for December" contest. We had 28 contestants, and three were quite close in their forecast. The actual high was 17,901 on December 2. Three contestants were within 100 points of this high. The closest - and first place winner - was Charles Yu of Hong Kong, and a subscriber to all MMA reports, and an attendee at the MMA Investment retreat in Italy last summer. Charles' forecast for the high was 17,827. Our second place winner is someone who wishes to remain anonymous, from Las Vegas, NV, whose forecast for the December high in the DJIA was 17,978. Our third place winner was Dan Treat of Scottsdale, AZ, whose forecast was 17,801. Congratulations to all three! Next week we will post some information on who they are and how they did it (if they agree).

Check out The Mountain Astrologer, the Dec/Jan 2016 edition that just came out. It features a two-part interview with Raymond Merriman on Financial and Mundane Astrology, the economy, financial markets, and the state of the world astrology community. For information on subscribing to America's top astrological magazine and getting your copy of this and the next issue's interview with Ray Merriman, conducted by Editor Tem Terriktar, call TMA at 530-477-8839, 800-287-4828, or their website at www.mountainastrologer.com.

MMA's annual Forecast Book, written by Raymond A. Merriman since 1976, is now completed and HAS SOLD OUT! There will not be a second printing. However, eBook copies may still be purchased. That is the beauty of this new electronic age and books. You never sell out of eBooks.

This year's printed version of Forecast 2016 will also available in four other languages, as follows :
Dutch : at www.markettiming.nl
German : at http://www.mma-europe.ch
Japanese : at http://merriman.jp
Russian : at http://www.mmafinance.ru

MMA's weekly and daily reports have been extremely accurate and profitable over the past several weeks, especially in equity indices, crude oil, and precious metals. 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 Daily Market reports. It is the only way I keep in touch with traders on a daily or weekly basis. These weekly reports give in-depth analysis of the DJIA, S&P and NASDAQ futures, Euro currency (cash and futures), Dollar/Yen cash and Yen futures, Euro-Yen cash, T-Notes, Crude Oil, Soybeans, Gold and Silver. The daily reports cover all stock indices listed above, as well as futures in Euro, T-Notes, Gold and Silver, plus GLD and SLV (the Gold and Silver ETF's). 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. For more information, or call our offices at 1-248-626-3034. These reports are extremely valuable to those who trade ETF's (Exchange Traded Funds). And since early December, these reports have been extremely profitable. As subscriber and trader R.B. of Albuquerque, NM writes",You have been on an incredible run for a while ; I have never seen anything like it". Well, when everything lines up just right...

Our 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.
Two-issue trial subscriptions are available for this service for $50.00, which includes the current issue and the next month's as well.
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.

Speaking of our weekly subscription reports, we now offer a new one titled : MMA Weekly Treasuries, Soybeans, and Crude Oil Report. This will be a 3-5 page report offering comments, analysis, forecasts, and trading strategy for next week's market activity in the U.S. 10-Year T-Notes (Treasuries), Soybeans, and Crude Oil futures only. List of support/resistance areas, trend indicator points, geocosmic and lunar reversal points for the week, cycles phasing, and recommended buy and sell strategies. The cost is $750/yr or $250/3 months. We will offer a one-month trial subscription for $50.00, available only until August 15, as part of our introduction to this new service. Subscriptions are delivered by downloadable postings on the MMA Website, which is entered via your personal password. It is also delivered via an email attachment to all subscribers over the weekend before the market opens.

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.

Upcoming Events :

April 14-18, 2016 : Saturn Square Neptune : What It Means for the World and for You Personally ; Great Lakes Astrology Conference, Ann Arbor, MI. For further information, contact 1-734-434-0804, info@greatlakesstrology.com.

October 13-17, 2016 : ISAR 2016 - "The Power of Forecasting Meets the Consequence of Choice". Costa Mesa, California (near LA). The climax will be a panel of expert Mundane Astrologers giving their Forecast of the USA 2016 Presidential Election. An "Application to Speak" process is currently underway. More details at www.isarastrology.com, and via the ISAR ezine that is sent out to all members of the organization. This event will include tracks on Mundane and Financial Astrology as Forecasting Tools, plus others on Psychological Shifts in Life, Timing of Spiritual Transformations, and Timing of Significant Relationships.

March 10-13, 2017 : Second MMA Investment Retreat, tentatively planned for Southern California or Hawaii now (no Sedona). Details soon.

The MMA Catalogue of products and services for 2015 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.

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 theBest 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.

It is with great pleasure that I announce the addition of Egon von Greyerz to MMA Investment Retreat faculty of presenters. I met Egon last week in Girona, Spain, at a special gathering attended by MMTA Graduates Nitin Bhandari (India), Philipp Beyer (Germany), Henry Canciglia (USA) and myself. Egon is an expert on Gold. He owns Matterhorn Asset Management, a Swiss Asset Management company specializing in wealth preservation, located in Zurich ( www.goldswitzerland.com). He was also the person who initiated the "Save Our Swiss Gold" Act in Switzerland late last year, which would have required the Swiss National Bank to back up their assets with 20% Gold holdings. The initiative failed, but his reasons for initiating this effort are still valid. Egon is very interested in MMA cycles' work, and will share his outlook on Gold and the world debt. This is a real treat!

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 identifiesBig 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 thatextra edge. And Silver is a great market to trade now. The cost is $125.00. For ordering on line.

The new book titled Solar-Lunar Keys to Gold Prices : Secrets of a Gold Trader , is now out. The long awaited sequel to the Secrets of a Silver Trader is due out in late October (maybe before)!!!
Now, GOLD as you have never seen it by night or day. The studies for the soon-to-be-released book are now completed and the results are now being used in the weekly and daily MMA subscription reports for short-term trading strategies in Gold. That's right... historically tested Solar-Lunar Correlations to trading reversals in the Gold Market - as only available from Raymond Merriman. The studies cover over 40 years of daily Gold, starting from December 31, 1974 through April 2015. The book will change how you approach trading Gold using these leading solar-lunar indicators, with very clear instructions as to "when" to expect 3%, 4%, or greater reversals in Gold prices and how to trade them. It will be a valuable guide for short-term traders of Gold, GLD, and other ETF's involving Gold prices. You may call 1-248-626-3034 or email ordersmma@gmail.com and place your pre-order now. It is also now available for purchase on the MMA web site at www.mmacycles.com. Order now and get the first printing of this new book on trading Gold!

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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