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.
