Investors gave a collective thumbs down to the Geithner bank plan as stocks retreated 5% in New York last week with the Dow falling to 7850 and the S&P to 826. I thought markets might be more bullish, but stocks seemed to slide right after Monday 's afflicted lunar eclipse. So the US markets seemed to be in negative space with all the heavy Jupiter representation in the nakshatra sublordships. This implications of the Rahu affliction to Jupiter was left as an open question, and we saw some confirmation of that bearish hypothesis.
This week features a very rare symmetrical configuration in the sky with a triple conjunction of Mars-Rahu-Jupiter at 15 Capricorn and then Venus at 15 Pisces in exact harmonic aspect with the Capricorn conjunction and Ketu at 15 Cancer. This kind of five planet alignment has never occurred in modern times and so extrapolating market effects is somewhat more difficult than usual. Certainly there is a a mix of benefic and malefic energies that complicates the picture. Even if we see a big gain early on here, I think the bears will return in force soon enough as the market seems destined to move lower.
Mumbai markets rose 3% last week on optimism that Asian economies would respond to various stimulus packages. This was broadly in keeping with our expectations as the approaching Jupiter-Rahu conjunction created more positive sentiment in India than in the US. Part of the reason for the different outcomes of this alignment was due to the fact that Jupiter was in close harmonic aspect with the ascendant of the NSE chart, hence the more positive outcome there.
The Mars-Jupiter-Rahu-Venus-Ketu alignment early in the week may produce a big move, perhaps in reaction to the Indian budget. The overall mood seems more negative, however, so any gains here are unlikely to last long.
