Taking cues from encouraging US employment data, stocks extended their seemingly somnabulant ascent with another modest gain. In New York, the Dow added less than 1% to close at 10,997 while the S&P finished at 1194. Foreign investors were similarly enthralled with Indian economic prospects, as stocks in Mumbai climbed almost 2% with the Sensex closing at 17,933 and the Nifty at 5361. While I thought we might see more negative Mars energy become manifest last week, it wasn't too surprising to see Monday begin positively as the Mercury-Mars was past exact hence much of its bearish energy had already been drained away. And the late week Sun-Jupiter aspect did appear to coincide with more confidence as stocks and commodities mostly moved higher. Gold was perhaps the main beneficiary of this aspect as it climbed back to $1160, and this was in keeping with my comments from last week.
We have yet to encounter any planetary pattern that has sufficient strength to reverse the prevailing trend. I had wondered if the gradual build up of planets in sidereal Aries might be enough to activate the nastiness of Mars (which, of course, rules Aries) but there is precious little evidence for this hypothesis thus far. The Sun enters Aries on Wednesday this week so that could provide more celestial material for the bearish side, but sign placement alone may not be enough to shut down this liquidity party. This week will also be significant since the long term aspect between Uranus (4 Pisces) and Neptune (4 Aquarius) finally becomes exact. It is possible that some of this rally may be linked to the geometric connection between these distant outer planets since they have been in fairly close orb for several months. With the faster moving Uranus now moving beyond its aspect with Neptune, we should pay close attention to any changes that may occur here.
The early week features a Venus-Rahu aspect which may entail some speculative buying and higher prices, but given the other influences at work here, buying may be a short term distraction this week. The late week period features the Moon conjoining benefic Mercury and Venus and then Venus approaches an aspect with Jupiter on Friday. Both of these influences would appear to be congruent with higher prices.
And waiting in the wings is the latest iteration of the Saturn-Uranus opposition that comes exact on April 27. So it may finally be time for the bulls to take a breather after all.
