The commodities markets were saved

REVIEW AND PREVIEW

It was another intriguing week for world financial markets, following the new moon conjunct Uranus of the prior week. The erratic back and forth effects of Uranus continued into early last week, but then as the influence of Uranus began to wane, many world equity markets took off – but not all of them.

In the United States, the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached 17,962 on Thursday April 14, very close to its previous primary cycle crest of 17,977 on November 3. Breaking that mark will be our official sign that this is a new bull market. However, the fact is that it has now broken convincingly above a downward trendline around 17,650 that connected the all-time high in May 2016 with the November high, so it is already quite bullish. This was forecasted in part 2 of our YouTube video series on “The Incredible Spring Lineup of Geocosmic Signatures”.

Remarkable performances were noted in other financial markets last week too. Silver, for instance, rallied to test 1640 for the first time since June 2015, yet Gold could not even make a new monthly high, for a case of intermarket bearish divergence. Crude Oil rose to 42.42 on Wednesday, April 13, its highest level since November. But then fell back Thursday and Friday. The Dollar/Yen fell to 107.61 last Monday, April 11, its lowest level since October 2014, while the Euro rose to 1.1464 one day later, its highest mark since October 14, 2015.

Now we move into Mars retrograde, April 17, one day before Pluto does the same. It will be like putting on the brakes after discovering you have gone way above the speed limit. The police car up ahead noticed that too. Quickly, figure out your explanation for the sudden acceleration. Quickly, calm down and don’t lose your temper, as the officer approaches your vehicle. He is not smiling. This may be no win-win situation, so be careful not to make it worse than it needs to be. Do not offer to buy tickets to local police fund raising community picnic. Appeasement will not work, nor will fighting back. It’s Pluto in Capricorn. It’s karma, for past corruption. It’s the Panama Papers, being caught and exposed for all kinds of stupid things you did in the past.

SHORT-TERM GEOCOMICS & LONGER-TERM THOUGHTS

This is a very intense time, as measured by the movement in the cosmos. This is the week that income taxes are due in the US, and it is also the week that both Mars and Pluto turn retrograde, April 17 and 18 respectively. Pluto goes retrograde about this time every year. Mars goes retrograde about every 27-28 months. What are the odds of both happening within a day of one another? The last time Mars went retrograde was March 1, 2014-May 19, 2014. You may remember that was when Russia annexed Crimea, and ISIS graduated from a JV team to the varsity.

But let us talk about more pleasant things that have happened under previous Mars retrograde periods, such as the time it went retrograde in Virgo on January 16, 1980. Two important things happened then. First, Gold and Silver made their then all-time highs as the Hunt Brothers cornered the Silver market and become the richest men in the world. By the time Mars turned direct on April 6, they became the poorest men in the world, as Silver collapsed about 80%, due to new rules that were put into place by the governors of the COMEX (the world’s largest Silver exchange). The new rules forbid anyone to go long Silver contacts. You could only go short, which was the COMEX’s rendition of the police catching you accelerating way over the speed limit. It was the COMEX’s rendition of confiscating Silver from anyone who owned long contracts - and the Hunt Brothers owned a ton of them (maybe several tons). They couldn’t get out because the Silver market was limit down for several consecutive days. By the time they could get out, all their profits were gone, and of course, more. They were in debt somewhat like the United States government is in debt today. The commodities markets were saved. The Hunt Brothers’ fortune was destroyed, and right afterwards, the rules were changed back to normal again. You could buy and sell Silver now that it had fallen from $50/ounce, back down to $10.

But there was a second and more important event that happened then (well, to ME it was more important). I was giving a speech in Tucson the evening of January 15. In the audience was legendary market timer and cycles’ analyst Walter Bressert. He was interested in astrology, and he was interested in my talk. He invited me to his home for dinner (he had a macrobiotic cook, so how could I refuse?). He took me to the office in the back of his huge ranch house, where he had all of these charts of Gold tacked up on the wall.

“Ray,” he began, “I don’t really know anything about astrology, but I have noticed that every time Mars has turned retrograde since Gold began trading freely (1971), that it reverses its trend and begins a counter-trend move until it turns direct. Look at these charts. I have marked those dates.” Sure enough, that is exactly what had happened in the three prior instances. If it was going up, it stopped at the Mars retrograde and turned down until Mars went direct, and then it reversed back to the previous bullish trend. If Gold was declining into the retrograde, it reversed and rallied sharply until it turned direct and then it returned to its bearish trend. Three retrogrades and three directs, and it happened within four trading days in each case. How could I not be impressed?

However, it is what happened next that changed my life forever. “Ray, do you think there might be other astrological factors that could pinpoint changes in the price of gold like Maars retrograde and direct?”

“Well,” I thought, “there could be.”

Then I heard Walter say, “If I give you these daily charts of Gold since it began trading, would you see if you can find other correlations? And if you are interested, I would like you to be my guest at any workshops or seminars I give in order for you to learn about cycles, and how they might relate to changes in Gold prices.” I think that is what he said, but what I heard was, “I am willing to be your mentor in financial market analysis if you will do this research on market cycles for me.”

And thus began my career as a market analyst, a market timer. Two years later, I published my research of over 60 geocosmic indicators that had a high correlation to price reversals in Gold, in The Gold Book: Geocosmic Correlations to Gold Price Cycles (1982). Walter loved it and sent to Financial News Network (FNN). They called me in for two interviews. Prior to that, I had about 35 subscribers to my monthly Gold report I had started a year before. Within one week after those interviews, I had over 350 subscribers and became a regular guest interviewer on FNN (now CNBC). I had to give up my day job (I had a successful practice as a consulting astrologer), and soon began a career with large Wall Street firms, which I eventually left after 9 years – probably under a Mars retrograde.

Thus, you see, Mars retrograde is not always an unkind time. For me, I have a fondness for this period because once upon a time, it changed my life for the better (too bad the Hunt brothers cannot say the same). It led me into the love of my life - research of financial markets - in this case, Gold. It brought me into contact with a remarkable human being who would end up being the greatest influence in my life - my mentor, Walter Bressert, king of cycle studies. I am but a prince, maybe, in his shadow.

If you love research, as I do, then the next ten weeks can be unusually insightful. My best wishes to all of you who are engaged in research. This is a time for discoveries, especially with Mars turning retrograde within one day of Pluto also turning retrograde. Dig deep. Be relentless. You won’t believe what you discover.

Oh! Unfortunately, the correlation between Mars changing directions and the price of Gold did not hold up so well after 1984. It is not a 100% correlation anymore. Yet, it often happens that whatever low or high that forms nearby to the retrograde and/or direct station, will hold for the rest of the year. We shall see if that is the case this time, given an orb of 12 trading days.