Weeky column: With Uranus, the keywords for financial markets are erratic, disruptive and unexpected

Review and preview

The Mars/Venus T-square to Saturn and Uranus coincided with a wild ride last week, as expected. Global equity markets got whacked until Friday’s recovery in the U.S. wiped all of its losses in just one day and ended up making a new cycle high. With Uranus, the keywords for financial markets are erratic, disruptive, sudden, and unexpected. Uranus is the higher octave of Mercury, and like the Trickster, its momentum can change abruptly. The major difference is that with Uranus, the price swings are usually much steeper than those exhibited under Mercury retrograde. Mercury might fall off a hill. Uranus falls off a cliff. Mercury might land on a trampoline and bounce halfway back up. Uranus will be more like a bungee cord that falls harder and then bounces all the way back up – and more. Mercury might be miscommunication and misunderstanding. Uranus is more of a revolt and revolution.

Now we leave the electrical shock of Venus and Mars making a T-square with Saturn and Uranus July 1- 8 for the more amorous and passionate conjunction of Venus and Mars in Leo early this week. We have a short window of time to enjoy this roller coaster before it climbs up another hill and then comes down vertically again. I don’t think the chaos and excitement are over yet.

Last week started strong with the S&P and NASDAQ making new all-time highs, but not the DJIA (again). They all then fell hard into Thursday’s low of the week as Venus finished its hard aspects to Saturn and Uranus. On Friday, all three indices recovered all losses, and in the case of the S&P, made another new all-time high. The DJIA, for instance, was down 669 points from its high on Tuesday to its low on Thursday. On Friday it was making a new weekly high and closed up 448 points from the previous day’s close.

The European markets also fared well on Friday after posting weekly lows on Thursday. However, only the Zurich SMI managed a new all-time high, and that was in the middle of the week. As in the U.S., the major markets of Europe continue to exhibit bearish divergence.

Fortunes were not as great in Asian equity markets. In fact, they were downright abysmal in Hong Kong, China, and Japan. Hong Kong and Japan dropped to their lowest levels of 2021 on Friday.

Crude Oil was noteworthy again as it posted another 33-month high on July 6 at 76.98. Two days later it was down to 70.76, a loss of 8% in just two days. By Friday, it had roared back to an intraday high of 74.76.

Gold continued its remarkable rally off our June 29 primary cycle low (and solar/lunar cycle low) of 1750. By Thursday, July 8, it was testing 1820. Investor sentiment is switching from an inflationary worry to one of deflation again. Gold does better in deflation unless the inflation is hyperinflation. Don’t worry. Inflation versus deflation projections will likely switch again before the year is out. Bitcoin enjoyed a nice rally into July 5 when it tested 36,000, its highest mark since the Mercury direct date of June 22 when it fell to 28,800.

 

Short-term Geocosmics

Now we go from the out-of-control and perhaps jealous rage of Mars and Venus in a T-square with Uranus (and Saturn) to the “kiss and make up” drama of Venus conjunct Mars in Leo on Tuesday, July 13. Everybody thinks last week’s bad behavior was just a transitory fluke, same as before. Everything is back to normal and the future looks bright and fun again. But by the following week, when Mars touches off the Mercury/Pluto square in the New York Stock Exchange chart (July 19-20), the bad behavior is likely to erupt again. If the lessons of last week didn’t take, they are apt to repeat after July 13.

But let’s enjoy Venus and Mars in Leo while we have the chance. Apologize, kiss and make up, and look for reversals in Soybeans, Copper, and probably several other markets. Venus/Mars in conjunction is a Level 1 market signature (highest correlation to reversals from primary cycle lows or highs within 10 trading days). In Leo, it can also coincide with aggressive speculative trading. Mars is action, and Venus rules money and all things of value. Aggressive buying is probably the order of the week early on. Yet it is still July, the middle month of the greater Saturn/Uranus square, with potential chaos and unruly behavior both socially and in financial markets.

 

Long-term thoughts

The White House on Friday will announce a new executive order aimed at cracking down on competitive practices in Big Tech, CNBC’s Ylan Mui reported. The Biden administration will make the case that the biggest companies in the tech sector are wielding their power to box out smaller competitors and exploit consumers’ personal information. The order will call for regulators to enact reforms such as increasing their scrutiny of tech mergers. –Kevin Breuninger and Lauren Feiner, “Biden to Sign Executive Order Aimed at Cracking Down on Big Tech Business Practices,” www.cnbc.com, July 9, 2021.

The massive legislation package, led by Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., would prohibit the tech behemoths from acquiring promising startups that could later become potential rivals and forbid them from using their platforms to discriminate against competitors. It would also prevent the companies from favoring their own products over competitors using their services. – Megan Henney, “Biden Targets Big Tech in Sweeping New Executive Order Cracking Down on Anti-Competitive Practices,” www.foxbusiness.com, July 9, 2021.

It is yet another manifestation of the powerful Saturn/Uranus “ill-disposed” waning (closing) square. As it enters July, the midpoint of this three-passage aspect that commenced its first contact on February 17 and ends December 24, 2021, coincides with the U.S. government’s (Saturn) announcement that it will crack down with new regulatory acts (Saturn) on tech companies (Uranus plus Saturn in Aquarius). Uranus (tech) is “ill-disposed” according to well-known astrologer Dr. Glenn Perry because Saturn is in Aquarius, the sign ruled and thereby disposed by Uranus, and the two planets are in a hard aspect (square) to one another. This is a fight that is not going to end with a handshake, but rather an earthquake.

It also plays into the meaning of the Jupiter/Saturn conjunction that took place in 0° Aquarius on December 21, 2020, thus ushering in the “New Aira” of this important 20-year cycle in air signs through the middle of the next century.

Air signs – especially Aquarius – refer to the technology sector of the economy as well as the quest for equality and fairness in society. It is idealistic and forward-thinking but can initiate acts with little awareness of the consequences that new directions may have upon the functionality of society and the business community. In other words, decisions are made on the basis of abstract thinking or “best-case theoretical scenarios” that have never been tested, rather than upon practical solutions that may have a history of effectiveness.

The efforts of these major tech companies are of great value to current day business, society, and the individual’s need and desire to be “connected.” Yet these tech companies may drift into behaviors that are indeed monopolistic and create unfair or inequitable results in both business and society. So, the ultimate question becomes: does breaking up these large tech companies result in better services and functionality for people in the name of “protecting the little guy?” The answer remains to be seen, but with Saturn in Aquarius square Uranus, and the “New Aira” of Jupiter and Saturn underway, it’s probable (to me) that government will succeed in its effort to break them up. This conflict between government and big tech will not bode well for those companies and could easily become the cause that leads to another major shakeout in tech stocks, as witnessed in 2000-2002. After all, the positions of Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus are in a similar aspect formation today. That is, Jupiter and Saturn were in Taurus square Uranus in Aquarius in 1999-2000. Now it is Jupiter and Saturn in Aquarius square Uranus in Taurus. I don’t think this bodes well for investors in the NASDAQ and their tech companies for much longer. The bungee cord may be ready to break with the next big jump. This is a cliff, not a hill. This is Uranus and Saturn at war, not Mercury retrograde in Gemini playing tricks on the mind.

 

Read the full report here