(13 June 2018)
Now the hard work begins. The much-anticipated summit between North
Korea's Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump has finally taken
place in Singapore. The two leaders met over several hours on Tuesday
and signed a commitment to work towards peace and to denuclearize the
Korean peninsula. The accord is undoubtedly an important first step
towards a lasting peace although questions remain about specifics. Most
analysts were still skeptical of any tangible results in the long
term. Over the past twenty years, North Korea has signed similar
promises to halt its nuclear weapons program at least seven times and
has found ways to renege or violate the agreements each time. It
remains to be seen if this time will be different.
As I have previously suggested, I think this air of optimism is likely
to fade by August as the principal horoscopes of Trump and the 1953
Korean Armistice show considerable affliction. In addition, we can now
add the special relationship (or Davison) chart between Trump and Kim.
This chart is derived by combining the birth data of the two men and
dividing it in two. This produces a third, unique set of birth data
which can be cast as a separate chart. It is then used to see ups and
downs of the relationship between the two individuals.
The derived relationship chart for Trump and Kim yields a birth date of
27 March 1965. Very quickly, we can see why their meeting today was so
successful. Venus (3 Cancer) was at the top of the chart in the 10th
house of status and public profile and thus highlighted notions of
conviviality and sociability. It also aligned very closely to the
Ascendant. Venus was also aspecting the Moon within three degrees.
Moon-Venus transits are classic signatures for pleasant social
experiences.
Mercury (4 Gemini), the planet of communication, was also prominent as
it was placed in the 9th house of higher principles (peace, diplomacy)
and also in close alignment with the Ascendant and the Moon by
degreewise reckoning. At the time of the meeting, the Moon was conjunct
Jupiter, the planet of "right action", abundance, and optimism.
Rule-breaking Uranus is also there sitting on the 7th house and
underscored the unprecedented and even surprising nature of the summit.
It was definitely an auspicious arrangement of planets for their first
meeting.
What is worth noting here is that we can see that the August time frame
is again highlighted by the transits of some negative planets.
Moreover, there are no transits of benefic planets which might offset
some of the negativity. Transiting Rahu is at the top of the chart in
June and July. This likely only reflects the importance and high
profile of the Trump-Kim relationship rather than any particular results
or outcome. Rahu in the 10th house is a good transit actually, but by
itself I wouldn't expect it to deliver any major steps forward toward
lasting peace. It may simply keep the whole issue at the forefront of
the news cycle. A possible key date may be August 9th, when transiting
Mars conjoins the natal Moon and the Sun and Mercury are conjunct while
aligning with natal Ketu. This suggests a significant uptick in
tensions.
However, it doesn't look bad enough to be a deal breaker. But all of
August and September look increasingly difficult for this relationship
since Mars will station direct at 4 Capricorn on Aug 27 while conjunct
the Moon and square the Ascendant. Moreover, Saturn will station direct
at 8 Sagittarius in a close square alignment with Venus, the planet of
amity. This looks like relations may get quite frosty with more than a
little hostility mixed in.
The deeper problem with the chart is that Neptune is opposite the
Mars-Uranus-Pluto conjunction for the next year. It's very unhelpful
for peace since Neptune symbolizes delusion and deception when in hard
aspect as it is here. Given North Korea's poor track record on
disarmament and Trump's own personal struggles with the truth, the
Neptune influence looks like the relationship will have a high level of
mistrust.
The spring of 2019 looks like a possible peak of difficulties as Saturn
and Ketu will align with natal Mars-Uranus-Pluto. It is difficult to
say exactly what may transpire at this time, but some kind of military
conflict should not be discounted. It is a very serious affliction to
this relationship chart. I hope to revisit these charts as
developments unfold.
Weekly Market Forecast
Stocks have generally continued higher over the past week as investors
are managing to look past any temporary trade tensions with China and
the G7. The Dow lost just one point today closing at 25,320 while
India's Sensex pushed higher to 35,692. This mostly bullish outcome
over the past week is more or less in keeping with expectations as I
thought the Sun-Mercury conjunction and alignment with Jupiter and
Neptune would boost sentiment.
The Fed delivers its latest policy statement tomorrow and it is widely
expected to raise rates again. But all eyes will be on its forward
guidance and the language it uses for possible future hikes. Wednesday
is the day of the New Moon so there is at least some possibility of
further gains. New Moons tend to be bullish, although this is more of a
statistical fact and not a high probability outcome. The larger problem
on this occasion is that the New Moon occurs in a difficult alignment
with Mars and the Lunar Nodes. For this reason I would think there is
some downside risk on Wednesday. Thursday's Moon-Mercury conjunction is
in fairly close opposition to Saturn so that is another possible red
flag for the market. It seems likely that we will see some downside
this week and perhaps into next week also when Venus opposes Mars at
midweek.
For more details and analysis on market trends for this week, this month and this year, please check out my weekly
MVA Investor Newsletter.
The newsletter is published every
Saturday and includes
extended discussion of US
and Indian stock markets, as
well as gold, oil and
major currencies.
Simplified financial transit outlook for June 13 - 20
Wed 6/13 New Moon 135 Mars-Ketu bearish -2
Thu 6/14 Moon-Mercury-180-Saturn bearish -3
Venus-90-Uranus bullish +1
Fri 6/15 Mercury-180-Saturn bearish -2
Moon-120-Jupiter bullish +1
Mon 6/18 Venus-Rahu bullish +1
Mercury-Jupiter-Neptune bullish +1
Tue 6/19 Venus-Saturn bearish -1
Mercury-Jupiter bullish +1
Wed 6/20 Venus-180-Mars bearish -2
Moon-90-Saturn bearish -1
Mercury-Jupiter-Neptune bullish +2
(24 June 2018) As the old song goes, there could be a "Bad Moon Rising"
this week. We are due for a Full Moon this week just after midnight
EDT, Thursday June 28th. The Full Moon will rise Wednesday
night/Thursday morning in the US, but it seems more likely that stocks
will fall. That's because the Full Moon has been living up to its
bearish reputation in financial astrology here in 2018 as each Full Moon has coincided with significant declines. 
