USA stock market made its then all-time high

REVIEW AND PREVIEW

Global equity markets continued their 2019 ascent late last week after brief declines following the total lunar eclipse and Mars square Saturn on January 21. The declines were nowhere near the rampage that occurred under a similar total lunar eclipse one year ago, on January 31. The fact that the equity markets have resumed their rallies, with many now making new highs for this New Year, is evidence that those lows of December 24-27 were probably longer-term cycle lows. When cycles bottom, the early stages of new cycles begin, and early stages of cycles are nearly always bullish.

On top of this, the rallies began shortly after Jupiter entered Sagittarius, a planet-sign combination that has historical correspondence to substantial rallies, ending in longer-term cycle crests before it leaves this sign on December 2, 2019. That doesn’t mean the rally will continue until the end of the cycle, because it does tend to top out in the middle of this transit. For example, when Jupiter last passed through Sagittarius, in 2007, the USA stock market made its then all-time high on October 11 as Jupiter was about 15° Sagittarius. Within the next three months, and after Jupiter had moved into Capricorn, the start of the Great Recession was on, and the DJIA had fallen 18%. And that was only the first leg down. The final low didn’t end until March 6-9, 2009, with the DJIA down over 54% from the high of October 2007.

Jupiter is back to the middle of Sagittarius again. However, due to its retrograde motion, it will soon return back to the middle degrees of Sagittarius, June-September 2019.

Last week started out as if a rout may be on the way. On the first day of trading in the USA, January 22, the Dow Jones Industrial Average immediately dropped over 500 points from its high of 24,750 on Friday, January 18. But then it recovered and by Friday, January 25, it was making new highs, up to 24,860. The same pattern unfolded in many of the world’s stock indices, except the London FTSE, which continued to drop all week after its high on Monday. One issue that may be important is that not all indices exceeded their highs of the prior Friday, January 18, as in the NASDAQ Composite, Tokyo Nikkei, and Zurich SMI. This may become a case of intermarket bearish divergence if next week starts on a downtrend.

In other markets, Gold and Silver enjoyed sharp rallies on Friday, with Gold testing 1300 again, and Silver leaping 55 cents above its low of 15.20 on Tuesday, January 22. Crude oil also rallied smartly,

making a new high of 54.24 for the New Year on Tuesday, January 22. In retrospect, the January 22-23 one-star critical reversal date (CRD), which involved the lunar eclipse and Mars/Saturn square of Monday, January 21, had a correspondence to reversals in several markets, at least short-term.

 

SHORT-TERM GEOCOSMICS

There are a number of minor geocosmic signatures coming up in February, but none qualify as three-star CRDs until March 17. Still, they may be exhibit notable reversals that can be of value for traders. The most important next week is Mars square Pluto, from Aries to Capricorn. This may pertain to the government shutdown in the USA, where tensions are mounting between the two parties with neither budging. They have locked their feet into the ground, each side refusing to budge. This is classic Mars/Pluto type of behavior, where “compromise” leading to a win-win situation is more than a 4-letter word. With Mars/ Pluto, someone must lose in the eyes of the antagonists. It is also noteworthy that transiting Saturn is square the USA Saturn. Saturn rules government, and pertains to the dynamic of delays and frustration. Perhaps that fixation to win passes and the matter gets resolved near the new moon of Monday, February 4, a time of new beginnings and “thinking outside of the box” for the next two weeks. However, the new moon in Aquarius is not necessarily a set up compromise, so maybe we just get new and doable proposals, but still no budging. As we write this, President Trump just signed a bill to temporarily reopen the government until February 15. Congress has until then to strike an immigration deal or, in the words of the President, “it’s off to the races” again.

This week also begins a transit of Mars over the New York Stock Exchange’s founding chart planets. The NYSE chart (May 17, 1792) finds Moon and Saturn at 20° and 26° Aries, in opposition to Jupiter and Neptune at 23-27° Libra. Mars will transit over 20-27 Aries from January 30-February 13. This can coincide with major price swings in U.S. stocks, but probably not as much as what happens in 2020-2023 when Pluto will transit those same degrees from Capricorn.

 

LONGER-TERM GEOCOSMICS AND THOUGHTS

One of the difficulties that may be experienced with Jupiter in Sagittarius, square Neptune in Pisces, January 13-September 21, 2019, is that there are too many variables in play on too many levels that may or may not be connected. Let me explain, or rather, try to explain, because that’s part of this same Jupiter square Neptune problem. What one person is saying, with this combination in force, may not be even remotely close to what someone else is hearing. Jupiter in Sagittarius, square Neptune in Pisces is all about… what? Take your choice, from many optional realities that are being offered at the same time. It’s all negotiable, given that both planets are in mutable (changeable) signs, but first you must either understand or accept what is being offered. And chances are, no one really does.

With respect to the longer-term outlook on financial markets, there are, of course, very many variables that could lead to any number of different outcomes. There is the planet/sign combination of Jupiter in Sagittarius that has a fairly strong history to strong rallies ending in longer-term cycle highs, usually before the period ends (December 2, 2019). And once it ends, stocks often decline into a low while Jupiter is in Capricorn or Aquarius, and sometimes lasting until it is in Pisces. These two factors argue for a rally in 2019, maybe to new highs (maybe not), but followed by a very sharp 1-3 year decline that ends before Jupiter leaves Pisces in 2022. This also fits with the possibility of a major sell-off in 2021, +/- 1 year, signified by Saturn in Aquarius square Uranus in Taurus (a major disruption to the government and banking, and possible major protests and revolutions around the world).

 But there are other variables, for with astrology, it is like a clock with 12 hands. We like to look at 2007 as an example that astrologically compares to 2019, for that was the last year Jupiter spent several months in Sagittarius, as discussed earlier. Jupiter was right in the middle of Sagittarius (15°) on October 11, 2007, the day of the then all-time high. In the next few weeks, it went basically sideways near the highs. But then Jupiter neared Pluto, making a conjunction two months later on December 11, 2007, at 28° Sagittarius (near the Galactic Center, but still in Sagittarius).  From there, the stock market began cascading down, escalating its decline after Jupiter entered Capricorn one week later, on Dec 18, then reaching its first leg down as Venus and Pluto moved into Capricorn, January 23-25, 2008. The final bottom for most of these indices was not until March 6-9, 2009, when Jupiter had left Capricorn and advanced to the middle degrees of Aquarius (14°).

Thus, an alternative view to the one first given, is that the stock market could rally close to the Jupiter/Pluto conjunction in 22° Capricorn. Maybe it is the planetary conjunction, more than Jupiter in a sign (Sagittarius) that will correlate more closely to the end of this new bull run. That conjunction takes place November 12, 2020, very near the USA Presidential Election. In 2007, the stock market peaked two months before the Jupiter/Pluto conjunction. Typically, stocks do rally into an election and even beyond, although 2008 was a severe exception to this rule. But also supporting a rally into 2020 is the Saturn/Pluto conjunction that will take place on January 12, 2020. In the past few cases, the stock market bottomed prior to this aspect, and had already begun a rally into and past it.

So, will the cosmic reality of the planet/sign correlation, or the planets in aspect to one another (especially conjunction), correlate with the longer-term cycle crest in stocks indices? Will stocks top out this year, or will they continue to rally into and beyond the Saturn/Pluto conjunction, topping out close to the Jupiter/Pluto conjunction and the 2020 election, followed by the decline that is scheduled to occur during Saturn square Uranus (2021) +/- 1 year? That’s the challenge for Financial Astrologers to figure out. And with Jupiter square Neptune in 2019, that outcome may not be so clear. Nothing is very clear under Jupiter square Neptune especially with Neptune in Pisces, the sign and planet of a fog. What is clear, however, is that this is a period in which people will tend to be overoptimistic and hopeful, very complacent about their financial holdings and speculative offerings, and vulnerable to large losses if they are not attentive. This is a time requiring discernment and attention to details and warning signs that all may not be right in various parts of the world and the economy. If it sounds too good to be true, chances are that it is not true.