Stocks moved higher last week, fueled in part by the Fed's plan to buy treasuries and loosen up the credit market. After peaking on Wednesday near 800, the S&P closed Friday at 768 while the Dow ended the day at 7278. Mumbai managed to avoid much of the late week selling pressure as the Sensex closed at 8966 and the Nifty at 2807. I thought we would see more of a decline with the Mercury-Jupiter-Saturn alignment, although the US market did fall in the two days following it. Interesting that the Mars-Pluto aspect on Wednesday did coincide with a significant financial event, namely the Fed's buy back plan. Tuesday's rise could be attributed to the Mercury-Jupiter aspect that preceded the Saturn aspect. Rather than have Saturn's negative influence 'bleed backwards' and contaminate benefics Mercury and Jupiter, the orb was far enough that Mercury and Jupiter could strengthen each other, if only temporarily.
This week appears to have some potentially negative influences that may make it difficult for the market to add to recent gains. On Monday, the Sun is in a square aspect with Pluto. This may indicate some tension and struggle surrounding large organizations and government. Also, the Moon is conjunct both Mars and Neptune, another potentially difficult transit that carries overtones of secrecy or illusion. One wonders if the Geithner plan to deal with the toxic banking assets may somehow embody some of these forces. Given the planets involved, there is some reason to think that the plan will not be well received. Tuesday sees Mars in harmonic aspect with Rahu, perhaps indicating an excess of energy or an action that is somehow out of control, with possible damaging consequences. Thursday features the New Moon at 12 degrees of sidereal Pisces. Given the close aspect from unpredictable Ketu, this New Moon chart may indicate a lot of volatility for the next few weeks. On Friday, the Sun conjoins retrograde Venus, now in an even closer aspect from Ketu. While it's possible this may coincide with higher prices as perhaps the unbounded quality of Ketu may unleash a flurry of buying on baseless optimism, but it seems more likely to translate into selling.
