Weekly column: Jupiter in Leo, European heatwaves, and Pluto’s seismic shadow

Review

The U.S. war with Iran—and the economic war the latter waged in return—was supposed to be an apocalyptic moment for the oil market. Instead, oil prices are on the cusp of falling back to their prewar levels.

 The reprieve could be short-lived. Some oil analysts are warning that the sinking prices don’t fully reflect how tight the market remains after months of draws on global oil inventories, which are now flirting with operational limits.

— Collin Eaton and Benoît Morenne, “Oil Prices Make a Stunning Retreat to Prewar Levels. Where Do We Go From Here?” The Wall Street Journal, June 25, 2026.

With fears of a wider Middle East war easing, investors have turned their attention back to the global economy. Oil prices have fallen sharply from their recent highs, while markets are reassessing technology stocks, corporate earnings, and the outlook for interest rates. Yet, the sell-off in Crude Oil may be over-optimistic. With WTI down more than 40% from its March high during June’s geocosmic calm, are things about to change as we enter July?

In Forecast 2026, Ray wrote in his ‘Brief Note to Investors and Traders in 2026’ :

“I also have a specific period for traders to concentrate on in 2026. This would be in the latter half of July (July 15-25), when the transit of Jupiter will form a sextile to Uranus, trine to Neptune, and opposition to Pluto. Uranus will also form a sextile to Neptune and a trine to Pluto. These are intermediate- and long-term planetary cycles, so they require an orb of up to four months to manifest as an intermediate or long-term cycle in various financial markets. But in many cases, such a cycle could very well happen within three weeks of this period. Traders are advised to watch for reversals in markets that are making new yearly highs or lows, or double tops and/or double bottoms.”

As we head into this period, we can see the U.S. equity markets rallying to new all-time highs (ATHs). There is a case of bearish intermarket divergence starting to build with the DJIA making a new high, whilst the Nasdaq and S&P 500 failed to do so. This bearish divergence is also present geographically, with the Japanese Nikkei and Swiss SMI also rallying to new ATHs, whilst the rest of the Asian and European indices lag.

Commodity markets were weak as the U.S. Dollar rallied to test its April 2025 high. Precious metals sold off this week, hitting new multi-month lows along with Crude Oil, Copper, Corn, and the Crypto market. We are on a Critical Reversal Date (CRD) this weekend, followed by another in early July. As such, I’m looking for reversals in a number of these markets with bullish divergences as we approach the next CRD.

Short-term geocosmics

The past week brought several important events as the Sun crossed the cardinal axis at the summer solstice last Sunday. Early in the week, we saw the sudden resignation of yet another UK Prime Minister, and by Wednesday, heart-breaking images started to spread following the earthquakes in Venezuela. In fact, there were six major earthquakes in the past two weeks, which is a bit alarming as Jupiter plows ahead to its opposition to Pluto on July 20. Pluto is often highlighted when there are threats to human life (and crops) via natural calamities.

We are currently in the June 26-29 CRD zone, and Mercury is about to station retrograde on June 29. This appears to be a setup for reversals across several markets, which will be covered in our weekly subscription reports. On June 30, Jupiter will enter the fire sign of Leo, where it will stay for approximately one year. This is the final outer planetary ingress taking place this year. As Jupiter enters the fire sign of Leo, with Saturn and Neptune also in a fire sign (Aries), we are already seeing scorching temperatures with a heatwave encompassing most of Europe.

Longer-term thoughts and opinion

In Forecast 2026, this is what I wrote concerning the transit of Jupiter through Leo:

“Prior transits have shown a pattern of transitions in leadership as charismatic figures took the torch of power. Every transit has revealed the rise and fall of leaders, dynasties, and even empires. Therefore, this transit marks a changing of the guard—whether through elections, revolutions, war, or deaths—as leadership itself is in the spotlight…Post–World War II, the focus appears to be on the Middle East, with a strong correlation to geopolitical turmoil in Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Israel.”

Shortly after its ingress into Leo, Jupiter will form a hard aspect with Pluto. At the time of writing, this led me to believe that the U.S. would launch an offensive attack on Iran during this month. After all, regarding the ten previous transits that I looked at, the U.S. was always involved in some sort of military operation during the transit of Jupiter through Leo. Also relevant was the fact that the first Gulf War (1990) and the Iraq War (2003) both occurred during this transit.

 However, there appears to be a courageous effort towards achieving peace in the region as we head into the ingress. Will it hold? To be fair, there are a couple of instances of important peace treaties and agreements of note being signed during the transit of Jupiter through Leo. The Triple Entente of 1907 ended the long-standing rivalry between the British and Russian Empires. Following the First World War, the Treaty of Versailles was implemented through this transit in 1919-1920. The Bretton Woods agreement was signed during this transit in 1944.

 Yet I don’t see the change in leadership, a key Leo theme, having yet to take place in Iran. Prior transits resulted in the rise to power of colossal political figures such as Gandhi, Mandela, Atatürk, Roosevelt, Thatcher, Hitler, and Martin Luther King Jr. Perhaps this is yet to unfold, but this is the time for the next leader to ascend to the mantle of power, be it through evolutionary (democratic) or revolutionary (war, assassination, exile) means of change. Even Khomeini, the revolutionary figure who brought about the Islamic Revolution, came to power during the 1978-1979 Jupiter in Leo transit.

 Despite the decapitation of the top tier of Iranian leadership, the Islamic regime appears to be in full control of the country. The hardliners retain full control over the political system and are executing opponents at an alarming rate. To me, this does not feel like change, but the transit of Jupiter in Leo gives me hope.