REVIEW AND PREVIEW
U.S. non-farm payrolls rose by 228,000 jobs in November amid broad gains in hiring as distortions from recent hurricanes faded. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast payrolls rising by 200,000 jobs last month. But analysts said average hourly earnings were lower than expected. Average hourly earnings rose five cents or 0.2 percent in November, but economists expected a 0.3 percent rise. The annual increase in wages were also weaker than forecast: the November came in at 2.5 percent versus a 2.7 percent expectation. – Reuters, “Dollar Rises After US Jobs Report, Gains Capped by Wages,” December 8, 2017.
Bitcoin dropped to as low as $14,095.62 Friday morning just after 6:30 a.m. ET, according to industry site CoinDesk. That was a nearly 18 percent decline from earlier highs on the day of $17,153.94, according to the site which averages prices from major exchanges. In fact, bitcoin had actually rocketed above $19,000 on Thursday on the Coinbase exchange. The digital currency hit a high of $19,340 on that platform before notching a huge decrease. The latest swing higher came as bitcoin topped $12,000 Tuesday night in a rapid recovery from a 20 percent drop last week. – Evan Rosenfeld, “Bitcoin Plummeted Just Hours After Setting Yet Another Record,” December 8, 2017, www.cnbc.com.
It seems like every time I take time off for a vacation (or wedding of a child), something big happens in financial markets. Last week it was Gold and Silver breaking sharply lower to multi-month lows, and Bitcoin defying gravity to test $20,000 when it seemed like only yesterday it was around $1000.
In the absence of being able to write a report last week, due to my youngest daughter’s awesome wedding (a 5-day cruise wedding), I posted a chapter from the just-released new Forecast 2018 Book, titled “Bankers Go Bonkers.” I thought it was appropriate, given that the focus was on Uranus, the planet of disruption and revolution, moving into Taurus, the sign of money and banks. Many of you wrote to let me now that you “got it.” What I had in mind was that the value and meaning of money could change during dramatically in the next seven years, and crypto currencies may be the cause. It’s not that I necessarily think crypto currencies will become the new form of cash exchange during that period. In fact, I am more of the opinion that its role as an exchange of currency will actually terminate within seven years. But, before that, a lot of new wealth will be created as it continues to soar. One of my favorite sources of reliable information on Bitcoins (and a very early advocate of buying Bitcoins when it traded around $100) is one of my new in-laws, who long before our children met, was my broker. In any event, he has been forecasting Bitcoins to reach the $40,000 for several months, and last week, it was nearly halfway there. I have no reason to doubt his analysis, as he has been correct all along. But my point is – based on Uranus in Taurus – it will peak in the first half of this 7-year transit, and then collapse by the second half of Uranus in Taurus. If you missed last week’s column, you may want to go to our website at wwww.mmacycles.com, under WEEKLY PREVIEW, and read it. Bottom line; great, new wealth is bring created by those who are long bitcoin now, but then there will likely be a massive transfer of wealth from those investors today, to those who are sellers then. It will, in my opinion, create the next financial challenge (or crises), due 2020-2024. There will be other factors converging with that “Great Reset” too, such as in China as a region, and real estate as a sector, based on the McWhirter Nodal correlation to both the business and housing markets, as described in the Forecast 2018 Book.
Shorter-term, the Dow Jones and S&P both made new all-time highs, last week, on December 4, the first trading days following the first passage of the Jupiter/Neptune trine. The euphoria of that aspect is now wearing off as stocks fell, and then started to recover some of their losses by the end of the week. Gold and Silver both plummeted after breaking important support. As forecasted in the new book, Gold is now headed to the 1200-1250 range. It has now entered that range. We will also analyze the outlook for Gold and Silver in detail in this week’s MMA Cycles Report, coming out Monday night. December is shaping up to be an important month for metals as Mars will enter Scorpio this weekend.
SHORT-TERM GEOCOSMICS AND LONGER-TERM THOUGHTS
Since the fall of Harvey Weinstein, a great reckoning has seized the corporate world, entertainment, media and academia. But in one corner of American life – the most powerful – men accused of sexual predation were enjoying immunity. That is, until last week. “Its Washington’s Turn for a Reckoning,” Arizona Republic, December 8, 2017.
Deep down, you know what abuse is: You can tell when someone’s taking or demanding what isn’t his. – Peggy Noonan, “John Paul II’s Prescient 1995 Letter to Women,” Wall Street Journal, December 2-3, 2017.
The concept of a “Time of Reckoning” pertains to the planets Saturn and Pluto, and their ruling signs of Scorpio and Capricorn. This idea was first introduced in a previous Forecast Book when Saturn transited through Scorpio, in mutual reception to Pluto in Capricorn (2013-2014). However, it would gain momentum when Saturn entered its Balsamic phase to Pluto (last 45° of the entire 360° cycle), November 27, 2014 through January 12, 2020. It was my belief that the major theme related to “reckoning” would be the three D’s: debt, deficits and default, all key areas related to Pluto.
The “reckoning” is indeed accelerating as we are now in the middle of Saturn’s balsamic phase to Pluto. But, it is expressing itself in another area of human activity ruled by Pluto and Scorpio than debt. It the area of sex, and the karma accrued from past behaviors in this area as signified by the sudden revelations of misconduct by prominent people in the world. And all of this is exploding like the wildfires in California as the planet of exaggeration and excess – Jupiter – has ingressed into the sign of Scorpio. It will be there until November 2018. Many powerful people have already been toppled since Jupiter moved into Scorpio less than two months ago. Many more are apt to come, and there is no telling yet high or how wide this reckoning will reach before it recedes. It is my opinion that the “reckoning” won’t stop with sexual misconduct either. The three D’s are still fair game
Shorter-term, we note so many important matters have unfolded in the last two weeks that it would be difficult to choose which one is most important. Was it the resignation of Congressmen John Conyers, Trent Franks of Arizona, or Senator Al Franken, or the continuing saga of Senate candidate Roy Moore (with newly expressed support from both Donald Trump and the GOP) over allegations of sexual harassment? Or the wildfires in California? Or Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the rage that has brought forth from Muslims throughout the middle East? Take your pick.
Regardless of which issue you choose, all are occurring under the transit of retrograde Mercury the Trickster, who is reversing his own position and headed backwards through the zodiac as seen from earth, December 3-23. Long-time readers know that we consider this to be a period when major decisions are best left for further review and consideration, that it is a period of time when decisions are made that are later found to be regrettable, or often made with insufficient information, and thus require an adjustment later on (or worse, abandoned altogether in favor of a new position). In financial markets, it is notorious for often coinciding with false buy and sell signals, resulting in what we call “fake outs,” and not “breakouts,” as thought at first. Why does this happen? Because of contradictory statements from banking and political leaders, and/or conflicting date from economic reports. Our recommendations for new positions are therefore limited to aggressive traders only.
As we head into mid-December, our focus will be upon December 13, +/- 2 trading days, and December 20-25. The first date concurs with the middle of Mercury retrograde. Any market that didn’t begin a strong reversal within 3 days of Mercury turning retrograde, are vulnerable to making an important market reversal around the middle of the Trickster’s retrograde cycle. The second date coincides with the winter solstice (in the northern hemisphere), when not only the Sun, but also Venus and Saturn will enter the sign of Capricorn. That combination over the winter solstice hasn’t happened in nearly 150 years. As discussed before and explored further in the Forecast 2018 Book, this will start the third stage of “The Great Reset,” and will last three years, the time it takes Saturn to transit through Capricorn.
Enjoy Mercury retrograde these next two weeks. But try to hold off on major decisions until after that if possible. Use the period to gather necessary information, and enjoy the good will of the holiday season. Go to parties, meet old and new friends, but be sure of your trading orders (don’t say “buy” when you mean “sell”), and don’t be surprised when others change their plans suddenly on you, or if your computer or cell phone start acting out. They are no more certain of what to do than you are, under the Trickster’s spell. The Trickster is just playing with your mind.
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 cycles’ 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 the 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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GBP/USD hovers around 1.2620 in dull trading
GBP/USD trades sideways above 1.2600 amid a widespread holiday restraining action across financial markets. Investors took a long weekend ahead of critical United States employment data next week. Fed Chair Powell coming up next.
Gold price sits at all-time highs above $2,230
Gold price holds near a fresh all-time high at $2,236 in thinned trading amid the Easter Holiday. Most major world markets remain closed, although the United States published core PCE inflation, the Federal Reserve’s favorite inflation gauge.
Jito price could hit $6 as JTO coils up inside this bullish pattern
Jito (JTO) price has been on an uptrend since forming a local bottom in early January. Since then, JTO has revisited the key swing point formed in early December, suggesting the bulls’ intention to move higher.
Key events in developed markets next week
Next week, the main focus will be inflation and the labour market in the Eurozone. We expect services inflation to be impacted by the easter effect, while the unemployment rate to be unchanged.