Stocks extended their rebound last week as investors chose to look beyond the Middle East and focus on improving growth prospects. In New York, the Dow was up over 1% closing at 12,376 while the S&P500 finished the week at 1332. While we did see some early week declines around the Mars-Ketu aspect, the pullback was most modest than expected. The midweek Moon-Venus conjunction also corresponded fairly well with the midweek gains. Investors were even more upbeat in India as the Sensex rose 3% closing at 19,420 and the Nifty ending the week at 5826. There was no downside at all in the early week, however, as the Mars-Ketu aspect failed to correlate with any selling.
While most markets have rallied back from recent lows, stocks still appear to be trapped in a corrective phase, especially in emerging markets such as India. This is broadly in keeping with the bearish influence of the Jupiter-Saturn opposition. As this influence is now gradually weakening, the next major aspect on the horizon is the Jupiter-Rahu aspect in early May. If Jupiter symbolizes optimism and growth, Rahu is associated with distortions and excessive acquisitiveness. Rahu (North Lunar Node) is considered a natural malefic that can cause problems of indulgence and excess, such as in speculation. While it is sometimes linked to an expansion, this is often unstable and is subject to sudden collapse. Often, the influence of Rahu brings negative consequences. In February 2009, Jupiter conjoined Rahu in Capricorn just as stocks were falling rapidly toward their eventual low in early March. While other factors no doubt also played a role in that decline -- the tight Saturn-Uranus opposition quickly comes to mind -- the close proximity of Jupiter to Rahu is noteworthy. We will have an roughly analogous situation in early May so that warrants close observation.
This week will see the Sun act as a potential triggering planet to the Jupiter-Saturn aspect as it aspects Saturn on Monday and then conjoins Jupiter on Wednesday. In addition, Mars conjoins Uranus on Sunday/Monday so that may increase energy levels and trading volumes. It also may make the early week period more susceptible to declines. The close alignment of the Sun, Jupiter, and Saturn makes the timing of the effects of specific aspects somewhat more uncertain, however. Nonetheless, the second half of the week would therefore be more positive given the Sun-Jupiter conjunction and the approach of the Sun towards retrograde Mercury.
