Gold and Silver continued their hard decline into Tuesday, May 8

REVIEW

It was quite a full Moon week for financial markets as well as world politics. France elected a new president, and this time it was the one the pollsters forecasted. U.S. President Donald Trump fired James Comey, the director of the FBI, and all hell has broken out between those who feel this was long overdue because of Comey’s activities during the presidential election, and those who feel the timing is suspicious because of the rapidly accelerating investigation into a possible connection between the Russian interference with the 2016 USA election and Trump campaign workers.

Firing Comey puts that investigation in a pause mode. Adding to the bizarreness of this act and its timing, is Trump’s reasoning behind it - something like Comey was too mean to Hillary Clinton. It is bizarre, because Trump himself was not exactly “nice” to Hillary during the campaign. In any event, the announcement came on the day of the Scorpio full moon, which is a time to terminate something or fire someone. This may actually be a prelude to more aggressive and bold actions coming up from the White House in the next couple of weeks as transiting Mars (aggression, assertiveness, start new things, disputes, warlike) nears Mr. Trump’s natal Sun/Uranus conjunction, and opposition his natal lunar eclipse Moon. Lord help anyone who crosses his path these next two weeks (May 14-27). And that itself is a prelude to what is coming up in July-September as the powerful summer solar eclipse (August 21) conjoins Mars in the heavens and falls on his natal Mars and Ascendant - and opposite Janet Yellen’s natal full moon in Leo-Aquarius. Whether the president is an inventive and brilliant genius who is simply trying to protect all Americans, as his supporters believe, or a whacko who is out of control and a danger to the world, could be revealed in the next 100 days. We will be covering this dynamic in greater detail in our June 3 live webinar.

The response by world financial markets to the events of last week have also been interesting. The week began with the S&P and NASDAQ making new highs right after Mercury turned direct the prior week.  But the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) did not. New all-time or multi-year highs were also noted in Europe and Asia, while Japan’s Nikkei also soared to a new high for this year.

Gold and Silver continued their hard decline into Tuesday, May 8 – and then reversed, consistent with our two special reports on Silver sent out to subscribers the last two weeks. Crude oil and treasuries also reversed from their recent selloff.

SHORT-TERM GEOCOSMICS AND LONGER-TERM THOUGHTS

Politicians say they care about the national good, though usually define the term to mean their own re-election… Barack Obama after his first year in office would not stoop to do anything for growth. He signaled only hostility to business. He promoted only an agenda of increase taxes, regulation, and redistribution. Donald Trump has rung up no major accomplishments and yet the return of optimism to investors, business, and consumers is palpable.” – Holman W. Jenkins, Jr., “France is Ripe for Rebirth,” Wall Street Journal, May 10, 2017.

This week, May 19, will mark the second of three passes of the 45-year cyclical Saturn/Uranus trine signature (December 2016-November 2017). This is the fifth time in the history of U.S. stock indices that this aspect has occurred, and as described in the Forecast 2017 Book, in every case, a long-term cycle peak unfolded in its stock market. The last time it happened was July 1972-May 1973 The DJIA made a new all-time high in January 1973, right after Republican Richard Nixon won the election. Shortly after he began this, his second term in office, his Watergate troubles began, which led to mounting calls for his impeachment, which he avoided by deciding to become the first president in history to resign from office. Following the all-time high near the middle of this three-passage transit, the DJIA began its steepest two-year decline since the Great Recession. By December 1974, the DJIA has lost 46.6$% of its value, falling to 570, off its high of 1974, to compete its 36-year cycle trough.

Are the political dynamics of today like that of 1973-1974? Many say this is nothing like Nixon’s Watergate days. But as a Financial Astrologer, I am not so sure. The Saturn/Uranus waning trine is indeed a cosmic similarity that we cannot ignore. The calls for Trump’s impeachment grow every day, albeit so far only by the opposition. But then again, the opposition party called for the impeachment of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama too. The difference this time is the Saturn/Uranus trine, corresponding to a new all-time high in the stock market, but along with a growing discontent with the leadership in power. This time is more similar to the conditions of 1973-1974 when an impeachment possibility was very real. All it would take to make it uncannily similar is for members of the Republican party to also start to call for impeachment, as was the case in the Nixon period.

The bottom line is that the greatest risk to the US stock market (and hence all world equity markets) right now is the political risk. And, as explained in the first section of this week’s column, I think we will know if that risk is real or not in the next 100 days, based on the transit of Mars to President Trump’s natal chart this month, and the Solar Eclipse conjunct Mars of August 21 +/- one month.

And finally, for those who are watching, Bitcoin soared to new all-time highs. It is well above the price of Gold now, having reached $1800 last week. There may be a message here for currencies and the art of financial market manipulation.