Stocks slip back; Sun-Mars aspect ahead

Stocks slipped last week as investors took profits on positive earnings news. In New York, the Dow backed off its highs and closed Friday down about 1% for the week at 9972 while the S&P finished at 1079. In Mumbai, stocks retreated 3% as the Sensex closed at 16,810 and the Nifty at 4997. No surprises here really given the mix of aspects in play, although as always the exact timing defied an easy logic. The bullish Mercury-Jupiter aspect manifested a day early in Monday's gain while the midweek Sun-Saturn minor aspect similarly arrived somewhat ahead of exactitude as the market pulled back on Tuesday and Wednesday. Interestingly, Friday's apparently bullish Mercury-Uranus-Neptune aspect did not pay off as stocks fell in New York, albeit after a positive open. The failure of the market to hold onto its initial gains on this configuration is a possible sign of developing weakness.

This week's planets seem somewhat more difficult and will be an important test of the underlying sustainability of the rally. For the bulls, Venus comes under the benefic influence of Jupiter early in the week, with gains possible on either Monday or Tuesday. The Moon may play the role of midwife here as it conjoins Jupiter in Capricorn for both these days, although I am skeptical if we will see gains both days. Actually, the aspect is exact early Thursday but it seems more likely to manifest early all things considered.

For the bears, the Sun is entering into a potential tense square aspect with Mars, also on Thursday. These fiery planets can produce a lot of energy for good or ill but the square aspect can mean that there is an uncontrolled or harmful element present here, particularly since Mars is debilitated in sidereal Cancer and the Sun is debilitated in Libra. While it's conceivable that this combination may not reflect problems in investors sentiment, it's nonetheless an aspect to take very seriously. In addition, Mercury is in a minor aspect with Saturn midweek so that is another potentially bearish energy. By the time Friday rolls around, Mercury (10 Libra) will be close to coming under the influence of that debilitated Mars (12 Cancer) so that is definitely a hazardous aspect for stocks. It's still two degrees short of exactitude but that may not be enough to prevent fear from taking hold in the market. As a special bearish bonus, on Friday the Moon forms a t-square with Saturn and Pluto, now just one degree away from an exact 90 degree aspect. While these two slow moving planets will be in aspect for several weeks in November, this may be a possible early activation by the transiting Moon. It will definitely bear close watching.

Dow hits 10,000 on Jupiter station

Euphoria is back in fashion as the Dow hit 10,000 last week on a parade of encouraging earnings reports. A double shot of Intel and JP Morgan on Wednesday was the big market mover coming just one day after Jupiter's direct station. Despite the danger implied in the Venus-Saturn-Rahu pattern, Jupiter's extra dose of stationary energy prevailed as the Great Benefic did the heavy lifting this time around. After Friday's retreat, the Dow finished the week at 9995 and the S&P at 1087. In Mumbai, stocks were also buoyant as the Nifty climbed to 5142 and the Sensex hit a 17-month high of 17,322. Heady days indeed for this rally that has bounced back from every correction thus far. I had thought the Saturn-Rahu might have been enough to nullify the Jupiter station but again my best laid bearish plans were thwarted.

What may be occurring here is a kind of planetary inversion where some apparently negative patterns are corresponding with highs rather than lows. One of the most prominent features of the October 2008 crash was an alignment of mostly malefic planets -- Sun, Saturn and Rahu. Negative sentiment and market declines correspond with "bad" planets in close aspect. The lows are typically marked by the exact aspect after which prices rebound and move higher. The March 2009 lows also occurred in a similar way as malefic Saturn was in close aspect with a stationing Venus. The negativity of the aspect manifested at the same time as the market low. But since this is the unknowable world of astrology, there are many exceptions to this pattern. In fact, global stock markets made their highs in October 2007 very close to a rare triple conjunction of Venus, Saturn, and Ketu. While Venus is a benefic planet, Saturn and Ketu are first class malefics and thus render the pattern quite harmful. So in that case, bad planets corresponded not with a low, but with a high. Where did all that negativity go? Perhaps some negative combinations only mark the beginning of a negative trend, like opening up a black door of bearishness. Once the market made its highs in late 2007, it plunged 40% over the next 12 months.

So it may be that some of these difficult patterns we've seen in September and October may actually be marking significant highs for the market. While the market has rallied going into these patterns, the Saturn-Rahu and Saturn-Uranus aspects may well have opened the black door once again and some significant declines are about to unfold.

This week holds some promise for the bulls as Tuesday's Mercury-Jupiter aspect usually brings optimism and good news. And Friday sees Mercury moving into a minor aspects with Uranus and Neptune so that also augurs positively for stocks. But on the other side of the ledger, Mars is in a harmonic aspect with Pluto on Monday and the Sun receives a minor aspect from Saturn on Wednesday and Thursday. We could well see an increase in volatility this here leading into the very difficult Sun-Mars-Mercury square next week.

Planetary trainwreck looms

Last week US markets fell the for second straight week amidst growing fears that the recovery may not be just around the corner. Stocks fell 2% as the Dow closed at 9487 and the S&P finished at 1025. Indian markets bucked the worldwide negative trend in a holiday-shortened week as the stocks moved 2% higher. The Sensex closed Thursday at 17,134 while the Nifty ended the week at 5083. This outcome was mostly in keeping with expectations since I had been bearish on the unusually prolonged minor Mercury-Mars aspect last week. After Monday's gain in New York, stocks fell over the next four days as the retreat from the previous week's highs proceeded apace. So far, the Saturn-Uranus aspect is proving to be a significant signpost for the markets as stocks rose leading up to the exact opposition aspect on September 18, and have fallen as the aspect has separated. This mirrors what happened in the two previous oppositions in November 2008 and February 2009. Mumbai is an important exception to this trend so far, perhaps due to some benefic hits in the relevant natal charts that have offset the transit energy.

The markets now stand on the precipice as we have an impressive array of foreboding planetary aspects this week. Mercury (trading) conjoins Saturn (pessimism) while under the damaging aspect of Rahu (exaggeration). While there is no certain interpretation of this configuration, I believe we are likely going to see increased fears and investor caution which will translate into greater selling and more declines. As an added dimension, I note that we will have no less than four planetary ingresses this week. When planets change signs, there is supposed to be a shift in energy. Usually this is fairly subtle, and often undetectable (read: unfalsifiable) especially on a mundane level. Now once again moving forward, Mercury re-enters Virgo on Sunday while Mars enters Cancer on the same day. Virgo is generally kind to Mercury so that may be construed as a slightly bullish factor. But Mars is debilitated in Cancer and that may increase volatility as aggression and conflict is more likely to come to the surface. Mars is also in a close conjunction with unpredictable Ketu, so that ratchets up the chances for unusual or sudden outbursts of conflict or violent action. (As a side note, the September 11th attacks took place under a Mars-Ketu conjunction). So that's two planets changing energy on the same day and neither in is good planetary company -- Mercury is with grim, old Saturn and Mars is with nutty Ketu. This is quite unusual, and perhaps destabilizing although the ingresses may be less important than the aspects and conjunctions

But we also have two outer planets, Uranus and Neptune, also changing their sidereal signs this week according to Lahiri or Krishnamurti. Unlike inner planets which change signs every month or so, outer planets change signs every few years and hence their ingresses may be more noteworthy. According to the Krishnamurti ayanamsha, Uranus enters Aquarius Monday while Neptune enters Capricorn on Thursday. Since these distant planets move so slowly, their ingresses will vary by a few days depending on which ayanamsha is used. I should also point out that this will not be the initial ingress for either Uranus or Neptune since both are retrograding back to a previous sign, and hence one could argue that the ingress may be less significant. Nonetheless, having four planets changing signs in such quick succession is a very rare occurrence and may serve to amplify any developments we see in the markets or the world over the next week or two. American astrologer Richard Houck noted that outer planet ingresses often coincide with major changes in the status quo. Uranus in particular was associated with major stock market declines. The 1987 US crash occurred the day Uranus entered Sagittarius, and the Dow lost 6% the day Uranus entered Capricorn in 1994. It's by no means a certain correlation or even a probabilistic one since we can point to many Uranus ingresses when the markets were relatively calm. But it should be seen as another potentially negative factor that could weigh heavily on markets, especially combined with the difficult Mercury-Saturn-Rahu and Mars-Ketu patterns.

This week nothing would surprise me. Get ready for anything.