Weekly column: Officially near the middle of a primary cycle in most financial markets

Review and preview

 SpaceX on Friday is taking stock after the company’s Starship rocket exploded a few minutes after lifting off the day before in southern Texas. “If we lift off and clear the pad, we’re calling that a win,” SpaceX engineer Kate Tice said. – Micah Maidenberg, “After SpaceX’s Starship Rocket Explosion—Debris, Data and Analysis,” Wall Street Journal, April 21, 2023.

An IRS supervisor has told lawmakers he has information that suggests the Biden administration is improperly handling the criminal investigation into President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, and is seeking whistleblower protections, according to people familiar with the matter.  – Aruna Viswanatha, Sadie Gurman, and C. Ryan Barber, “Hunter Biden Probe Is Being Mishandled, IRS Supervisor Says,” Wall Street Journal, April 19, 2023.

It was the week of the big solar eclipse in the last minutes of the last degree of Aries, square Pluto in the first minutes of the first degree of Aquarius, and the global equity markets.… yawn. The rest of the world was riveted in a series of rocket explosions, exposes, leaks, and revelations of political cover-ups, plus renewed anxieties about the possibility of a credit default approaching for the United States, also typical topics for a Pluto highlighted week. But the stock markets of the world hardly moved at all. Perhaps the arrival of the “Trickster” – Mercury retrograde – on Friday, April 21, coincided with an environment of just too many conflicting narratives happening all at once to make a clear judgment about what it all means for the future. Then again, Pluto is only interested in a future where the present has been obliterated by revelation (and punishment) for the sins of the past.

The pattern and timing were similar in all regions. That is, most indices made highs in this geocosmic highlighted period of April 11-21. Most ended or paused their 5-6 week rallies nearby the April 14-17 time period, then declined modestly into the end of last week. In Asia and the Pacific Rim, China and Japan stood out. China’s Shanghai Composite rallied to 3396 on Tuesday, April 18, its highest level since July 5, 2022, at 3424. It then tumbled into Friday. Japan’s Nikkei Index rallied to a high of 28,778 on Friday, April 21, its best mark since August 2022, but then it closed down on Friday as well. Hong Kong, India, and Australia made their cycle highs (so far) on April 17, then pulled back at the end of last week.

In Europe, the Zurich SMI rallied all week, with Friday producing a new 10-month high. London’s FTSE was also up into Friday, but not a new high for this year. The German DAX soared to a new high of 15,916 on April 18, which is close to its all-time high of 16,290 made in 2021. The Netherlands AEX was quiet after recording its cycle high so far on April 12.

The U.S. markets were mixed. The S&P futures made a new cycle high on April 18, but the DJIA and NASDAQ did not make new cycle highs last week. Their highs remain as of April 14 and April 4, respectively. Brazil’s Bovespa peaked one day earlier on April 12. But all were down into the end of last week, though not by much.

At this point, the much anticipated cosmic convergence of April 11-21 looks mostly like a temporary peak in most global stock indices. However, since those highs were early in the cycle, the declines have so far been very modest.

Other markets followed a similar path but with considerably larger price swings. Gold and Silver, like U.S. stocks, peaked late in the prior week at 2063 and 26.23, respectively, then fell to 1980.80 and 24.71 in the middle of last week. Bitcoin and Ethereum also peaked on April 14 at 31,064 and 2142, respectively, before falling 12-15% in each case on Friday, April 21. That may sound like a lot, but for cryptos, that’s about an average decline in a major cycle.

Short-term geocosmics and longer-term thoughts

I will be rude here and say that in the past 30 years, we have not only come to understand the internet’s and high tech’s steep and brutal downsides—political polarization for profit, the knowing encouragement of internet addiction, the destruction of childhood, a nation that has grown shallower and less able to think—we have come to understand the visionaries who created it all, and those who now govern AI, are only arguably admirable or impressive. – Peggy Noonan, “Artificial Intelligence in the Garden of Eden: People in the Tech World Want, Unconsciously, to be God and on Some Level Think They are God,” Wall Street Journal, April 22, 2023

ChatGPT is a natural language processing tool driven by AI technology that allows you to have human-like conversation – www.ZDNet.com.

“I’ve got to do this now because if you do what your heart says you have to do, you don’t owe anyone your life.” Michelle Williams in the film “The Fabelmans” by Steven Spielberg.

The beginning of a cycle in financial markets is exciting because it presents the most opportune time to buy. The end of the cycle is also exciting because it presents the most opportune time to sell. But the middle of a cycle is the most boring or frustrating time of all and, therefore, the best time to take a vacation and think about life – especially if Mercury is also retrograde.

We are now officially in or near the middle of a primary cycle in most financial markets, and Mercury is retrograde – in Taurus, no less, which is the sign of slowness for the planet (Mercury) ruling the mind. Hence there is not much to say about markets for this week, so we will go philosophical with astrology.

So, what are we to understand with Mercury retrograde now, close to Uranus, and both in the sign of Taurus? If Mercury is the mind and intellect, and it is near Uranus, the planet of innovation, discovery, and disruption, it would appear that this is a time of potentially great excitement and invention. And it is, when it comes to recognizing just how rapid inventions and new applications in technology are about to revolutionize our lives. It’s a key characteristic leading us into this period of a technologically-inspired renaissance that I have written about the past few years in this column, the annual Forecast Books, and the webinars that followed.

In Taurus, we “value” these inventions and innovations that will lead us into the future. But now Mercury is turning retrograde, and suddenly there are concerns that we may have been moving too fast. There may be hazards to our “comfort zone” (Taurus again) that we hadn’t considered. The downside of Mercury and Uranus together is “ dissociation,” where we disconnect from our humanity, our personal identity and separate from a well-grounded sense of self-worth, even self-being. And with artificial intelligence (AI) advancing ever more rapidly, there is genuine concern that we may become too dependent upon the robots we are creating and worse, becoming.

Mercury, indeed has an association with the mind. And with Uranus, is leading us into incredible inventions about to transform our lives, especially when Uranus enters Gemini, the ruling sign of Mercury, in 2025-2032.

Pluto in Aquarius (the ruling sign of Uranus) isn’t going to stop this freight train (think “smart train”). But something else will. And that is the basic urge – a need – to connect with one another on a level outside of the mind, outside of technology. For some, it will be a retreat inward to listen and follow one’s heart. For from there comes the outpouring of love that all humans seek and the transcendence of the fear that all humans feel – the fear of loneliness, of being disconnected and alone, of not being able to touch and experience intimacy with another. It is only through relationships that love can be experienced. It is only through relationships that we can truly begin to understand the concept of karma, which is the first step to real knowledge of life, its meaning and purpose.

There may be a real danger for those who blindly follow the herd into this new age of technology and artificial intelligence, disconnected from meaningful relationships with others.

You don’t owe anyone your life as long as you follow your heart when you know you have to – even if Chat GPT tells you otherwise.