The Japanese Nikkei Index was exciting last week

REVIEW

“Of course I talk to myself. Sometimes I need expert advice.” Scorpioquotes.com.

“Of course I will accept the election results – if I win.” – Donald Trump, after Wednesday night’s debate with Hillary Clinton.

It is not just the USA presidential election that is on the minds of investors the past week. Let me give you a brief picture of the market uncertainty that is present throughout the world as we come to the end of the Sun in Libra, and start of the Scorpio witching season, when thoughts can get very dark, and wickedly conspiratorial. In terms of world equity markets, some made new all-time highs at the end of last week, and yet others fell to new monthly lows.

In Europe, the London FTSE index soared to a new all-time high recently, when it hit 7129 on October 11. It fell back to 6937 last week, but ended the week at 7058, within striking distance of its recent all-time high. Yet, as the FTSE rallied to a new all-time high, the Zurich SMI index fell to a low of 7950 around the same time (October 13), its lowest mark in three months. The AEX of Netherlands also fell into October 13, while the German DAX fell, but not to a new monthly low then, before rallying to 10,748 on October 30, its highest mark since September 8. The European markets are alerting us with multiple intermarket bearish divergence signals.

It doesn’t get any clearer in Asia and the Pacific Rim. The Japanese Nikkei Index was exciting last week, as it rallied to 17,289 on Friday, its highest mark since April. China’s Shanghai Index also looked positive, soaring to 3101 on Friday, October 21, after being down to a low of 2969 back on September 27. But during the period of early September into last week, both the Hang Seng of Hong Kong and Nifty of India fell. The same was true in the Russian MICEX index. Australia’s All Ords Index, on the other hand, is stuck in congestion of less than 100 points. Thus, here too we see some indices rallying nicely, while others fall, and some are just stagnant.

The Americas are a tale of two continents. In the USA (North America), stocks are clearly struggling, as investors weigh the possibility of a Fed rate hike shortly after the election. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed last week at 18,145, nearly unchanged from the prior week when it fell to a new three-month low intraweek at 17,959. The S&P did not make a lower low the prior week as the DJIA did, for a case of intermarket bullish divergence. But this is not as strong a signal as occurred on August 15 and 23, when first the DJIA made an all-time high and then one week later the S&P did too, for a more powerful case of intermarket bearish divergence. The NASDAQ has diverged even more, as it registered its all-time high on September 22 at 5342, with an unsuccessful re-test (and bearish double top) of 5340 on October 10. Yet, in South America, the Argentine Merval Index raced to yet another new all-time high on Friday, October 21, and on the same day, the Brazilian Bovespa soared to its highest mark since April 2012.

As investors try to figure out which of the world’s stock indices are attractive and which are not, important activity continues in the currency markets. The US Dollar is breaking out to new multi-month highs as we head into the election, and the Euro is falling to new multi-month lows. This is a sign that historically favors the Republicans capturing the White House (the 16-year high in Dollar corresponds to a Republican victory in all but one cycle since 1900). Will it work that way again? I don’t think so, for reasons discussed previously. I will have a lot more to say about this in the Forecast 2017 Book, due out in less than two months.

Interestingly enough, the impressive rally in the US Dollar has not deflated Gold and Silver since their recent lows October 7. Both metals and the US Dollar have rallied, which might be a sign that investors are preparing to move their monies from stocks and treasuries into metals. The money has to find some place to work if interest rates go up and both treasuries and stocks go down. Or perhaps they are looking to the energy sector, for here we note that crude oil rallied last week to its highest level since July 15. Crude oil…hmmm… dark and murky, the kind of stuff that Scorpio is drawn too.

 

SHORT-TERM GEOCOSMICS AND LONGER-TERM THOUGHTS

She said her administration could institute all her sweeping new government programs without “adding a penny” of debt – a ludicrous claim. – “Where Trump Fell Short,” Kimberly Strassel, Wall Street Journal, October 21, 2016.

As I stated in the opening of ISAR 2016 Presidential panel last week in Costa Mesa, California, this is an election that no one wants, and yet no one can stop talking about. There are so many claims and promises made that simply cannot be kept. You begin to wonder if either candidate is capable of telling a straight-up truth without exaggeration or pure fabrication. To Financial and Mundane Astrologers, it is all part of the Saturn/Neptune waning square theme, where you simply cannot believe anything you read, hear, or see. Even though this 36-year aspect technically ended September 10, its dynamics may continue for up to nine months afterwards.

We are also currently in the midst of the Mars translation to Pluto and Uranus, October 19-28. This is when “shocks” can hit the world, such as earthquakes, hurricanes, typhoons, volcano eruptions, and… both terrorist and cyber-attacks. We are already seeing the latter. Yes, it has the potential to correlate with dangerous conditions, but by itself, it is short-lived. It is interesting to us as market timers because it also corresponds to Mars making a hard T-square to the chart of the New York Stock Exchange at the same time. As discussed in the special column sent out October 18, “Mars will also make a T-square with important planets in the chart of the New York Stock Exchange (May 17, 1792, known as the “Buttonwood chart). In that NYSE chart, the Moon/Saturn conjunction in 20-26° Aries is in opposition to the Jupiter/Neptune conjunction in 22-27° Libra. Mars will transit between 20-27° Capricorn, squaring both sets of planets, between October 22 and November 4. This overlaps the Mars translation to Uranus and Pluto, October 22-28.” We need to be alert to a market, weather-related, or geopolitical shock this week.

Our concerns extend beyond this week, however, for in the last week of this year, Jupiter will make its first of three oppositions to Uranus, and Saturn will make its first of three trine aspects to Uranus, all in the same week that Uranus will turn stationary direct. That is a lot of Uranus activity. This next week may be a preview of what to anticipate at the very end of this year.

In spite of all of these hard geocosmic aspects approaching, we must also note that Jupiter is now well into Libra for the next year (September 2016-October 2017). Shocking events are possible, as seen by the writing on the walls of the cosmos, but so too is the capacity of our human family to absorb it all and think more positively about the future, and one another, all related to the dynamic of Jupiter (philosophy and optimism) in Libra (partnering and agreements). According to my understanding of astrology, a new wave of global cooperation designed to move the world more towards peace and the elimination of terrorist threats is already underway.

Now, if those same forces could just put their focus also on the elimination of national and world debt, with concrete and honest ideas - instead of ludicrous claims without any meaningful substance - then peace might really have a chance of taking shape. Behind every war is economic distress. Behind every economic stress is the rising specter of dissent, blame, and revolt.