Stocks decline in aftermath of Saturn-Uranus aspect

World markets staged a modest retreat last week as investors grappled with disappointing economic data coming out of the US. After some early week strength that saw indexes climb to new yearly highs, stocks in New York had three straight losing sessions as the Dow finished at 9665 and the S&P at 1044. Indian markets also pulled back fractionally as the Nifty closed below 5000 to 4958 while the Sensex ended the week at 16,693. This decline was in keeping with our expectations for a significant correction in the wake of the Saturn-Uranus opposition. Tuesday's exact Mercury-Saturn conjunction coincided with gains rather than losses so that was an important anomaly that echoed a similar outcome of the Sun from the previous week. The declines later in the week therefore reflected the dissipation of positive energy following the the exact aspect of these various planetary combinations. Just as we saw a rise into the Saturn-Uranus aspect through the first half of September, the backside of this aspect may well see the market sell off. The addition of trigger planets such as Sun or Mercury may also reflect this before/after dynamic.

The planetary picture appears even more entangled this week as Mercury turns direct on Tuesday while in close minor aspect with Mars. Mercury's normally bearish retrograde period has been overshadowed by stronger bullish energies. However, we should recall that its aspects with Mars can be troublesome for the market, such as in late August when Mars formed a square aspect with Mercury and the market experienced a small correction. While this 60 degree aspect is considered less malefic, it's closeness and long duration of influence this week may well produce bearish results. The close proximity of Saturn to stationary Mercury may not be helpful in that regard either and could well make matters worse. And with Saturn and Rahu moving into closer aspect, there is good reason to be very cautious about this market this week and through much of October.

It's a dangerous time.

Stocks advance into Saturn-Uranus aspect

Fueled by a seemingly unending stream of positive economic reports, stocks continued their ascent to new 2009 highs last week. In New York, the Dow rose 2%
to close at 9820 while the S&P finished at 1068. In Mumbai, the Nifty added 3% for the week and flirted with 5000 before ending the week at 4976. The BSE Sensex closed at 16,741. Commodities were mixed as crude oil rose to $72 USD while gold gave up midweek gains and ended mostly unchanged at $1007 USD. While I had anticipated some higher highs here, the absence of any significant late week pullback on the Sun-Moon-Saturn conjunction was disappointing. On the whole, the week was somewhat anti-climatic given the exact culmination of Saturn-Uranus opposition aspect. The Venus influence delivered predicted gains into Wednesday when it formed its closest angle to the Saturn-Uranus-Neptune alignment and indeed we saw the biggest gains of the week at that time. Against expectations, equities mostly held their own into the late week, however, as the Sun-Saturn conjunction only modestly damaged gold's prospects.

With the Saturn-Uranus opposition now behind us, we need to pay extra close attention to any new developing trends this week. Previous oppositions in this series have seen the bulk of the bearishness manifest after the exact opposition, so any downward moves this week would keep this correlation intact. Higher prices this week would provide significant evidence against the bearish view of the aftermath of the Saturn-Uranus aspect. With Mercury retrograding across Saturn, we would seem to be confronted with an even more bearish mixture of planetary energies than in past weeks. The exact conjunction occurs Tuesday so the early week may be more prone to selling. Of course, the Sun occupied a similar position last Thursday and we saw only a fractional decline. Nonetheless, Mercury's condition may be more vulnerable given its retrograde status. Some late week gains are likely as the Sun forms a minor aspect with Jupiter Thursday and into Friday. We should also pay attention to the approaching aspect from Rahu to Saturn. While not yet exact, the negative energy from this contact could begin to manifest fairly soon.

New highs on Venus-Jupiter aspect

Against a backdrop of improving economic data, stocks gamely added to their recent gains and made new highs for the year. In New York, the Dow rose 2% and equaled its highs from late August closing at 9605 while the broader S&P500 finished at 1042. In Mumbai, equities rallied more than 3% as the Sensex ended Friday's session at 16,264 while the Nifty broke above some significant resistance at 4750 closing at 4829. This bullish outcome was more or less in line with our expectations as the Sun-Venus-Jupiter configuration strongly pointed towards some gains. What was somewhat surprising was that the lion's share of the gains occurred early in the week, although solid momentum was maintained in the US for Wednesday and Thursday at the time of the tightest orb. Friday saw a modest negative day in the US, probably due to the separation of the Venus-Jupiter aspect.

In astrological terms, this week promises to be a moment of truth of sorts, as the long-awaited Saturn-Uranus opposition aspect will become exact on Tuesday. There is actually a lot more going on in the sky this week and that will only serve to ramp up the torque and increase the potential size of any moves. As a possible triggering mechanism, the Sun will conjoin Saturn on Thursday while the Moon follows suit on Friday. As an added source of planetary energy, Mercury will square Pluto late in the week and this should be seen as a burden on risk taking and optimism. Notwithstanding the fairly negative outlook here, the earlier part of the week holds the possibility for further gains in both stocks and commodities as benefic Venus will enter into alignments with Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

We should also note that this Sun-Moon-Saturn-Uranus-Neptune configuration (all in the first sidereal degree of their respective signs) not only increases the chances for declines, it may also function as a cosmic signal for a trend reversal. Previous Saturn and Uranus oppositions in the current series have also coincided with significant pullbacks, although not during the immediate period around their aspect. On November 4, 2008 Saturn opposed Uranus (along with a helpful square aspect from Venus) and that marked an interim high for the US market. Stocks fell 20% in the subsequent three weeks into the November 21 lows. Similarly, Saturn again opposed Uranus on February 5, 2009 near an interim high and the market fell 25% into the lows of early March. In both instances, it was not the time around the exact aspect which took the market down, but rather the aftermath of the aspect which coincided with the decline. This 'high water' scenario is something to ponder as we confront another Saturn-Uranus opposition this week.

Markets retreat on Mercury-Mars square

Stocks staged a modest retreat last week as more investors entertained second thoughts about the sustainability of the rally. After trading below 1000 earlier in the week, the S&P ended the week at 1016 while the Dow finished at 9441. In Mumbai, caution was also the watchword as stocks fell four sessions out of five with only Friday's gains precluding a rout. The Sensex ended the week at 15,689 and the Nifty backed off last week's highs to close at 4680. While I had been ambivalent about the ultimate outcome last week due to the uncertain impact of Jupiter, the basic contours unfolded as expected with weakness early on followed by gains later. Monday and Tuesday saw the bearish effects of the Mercury-Mars aspect prevail while the approaching positive aspect between Venus and Sun at the end of the week coincided with solid gains. In the end, Jupiter's minor aspect with both Mercury and Mars did not provide enough encouragement for bulls to assume long positions but rather served to magnify the selling pressure, as Tuesday's across the board decline in New York was the sharpest in several weeks. While Jupiter is most often a bullish influence because of its optimistic nature, it is also a planet that can sometimes serve only as an accelerator to prevailing trends regardless of their direction.

With US markets shut for the Labor Day holiday, Monday will feature the beginning of the retrograde Mercury cycle on September 7. Since Mercury is the planet associated with trade and commerce, its reverse motion is often indicative of negative or sideways markets as investors take a 'time out' to review their positions and re-assess their portfolios. The Mercury retrograde cycle will last until Sept 29 and should be seen as an additional bearish factor that will tend to work against the markets extending its rally. With Saturn entering sidereal Virgo on Wednesday, we may see traces of its energy manifest in the world as it changes sign. Saturn represents structure, authority, loss and tradition so some of these themes may be more in evidence in the coming days. This needn't have an immediate effect on the market although the early week period may be more prone to selling. We may see stocks rebound strongly Wednesday and Thursday (and possibly into Friday, esp. in Asia) on the opposition aspect between Venus (24 Cancer) and Jupiter (24 Capricorn). This combination of benefics may promote spending and investing and encourage greater risk taking in the marketplace so we could well see stocks approach their previous week's highs. The fact that the Sun (24 Leo) will be in minor aspect to this opposition may increase its bullish potential. Since Sun symbolizes gold, we can expect gold to continue it recent rally, probably above $1000. Given the preponderance of difficult aspects next week, however, this rally seems very short-lived indeed.