Pluto retrograde hits the stock market

April 10, 2012 By

The US stock markets saw their steepest declines of the year today after a week of downward movement as Pluto slowed down to a crawl in preparation to turn retrograde today.

A very brief (5 minute) study disproved my initial theory that Pluto retrograde events correlated with a downturn in the stock market.  But every market period is different and brings with it unique combinations of planetary energies that affect investors in different ways.

The stock market has been on an upswing since November, buoyed by the perception that the financial crisis is ending.  But Mars is opposing Neptune now, and the drive to achieve and to do (Mars) is clouded by Neptunian disillusionment and confusion, which has likely made the approaching Plutonic dynamic seem overly dark and scary.

Pluto is stationing right now – it won’t actually turn retrograde until the 11th.  The opposition of Mars to Neptune will continue over the next week as Mars itself stations and turns direct, at which point we will see more forward movement in every area of our lives.

Meanwhile, this is probably a time to pull back and adopt a “wait and see” attitude before jumping into the markets.  With all of these reversals it will take some time for the truth to filter through the illusion and reality to set in.

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Forbes Magazine interviews financial astrologers

February 27, 2012 By

financial astrologyWhen the economic collapse occurred in 2008, astrologers were not surprised.  We had been watching and waiting for the arrival of Pluto’s entry into Capricorn as a time when the explosive growth of the Pluto in Sagittarius period would contract and the reality check of Capricorn’s serious need for discipline would arrive.  The economic collapse also demonstrated quite clearly that financial experts lacked adequate tools to understand the fluctuations of the stock market.

The Astrology News Service posted a link to a couple of Forbes articles about financial astrology that are actually pretty respectful of the art. One of these articles interviews astrologer Grace Morris:

She based her calls on traditional earth-bound analysis from outsiders, like fundamental and technical data. But the real twist comes from the natal star charts of the companies she chose to recommend to her clients. There were only five large cap buys on the list. Most were holds. The rest were mid and small cap names.  Out of the five large cap buy recommendations she made in October, three beat the S&P 500, and all were trading positive from Oct. 3 to market close on Feb. 17.

This was interesting to me because I myself decided that with Uranus in Aries, the innovator of individuality, in conflict with Pluto in Capricorn, the destroyer of corporations, that small cap companies were going to be the real growth investments.  (I am NOT a financial advisor, and I have no training in economics.  I am a professional astrologer with an interest in the geocosmics of finance.)

The other Forbes article on financial astrology quotes my personal favorite, Ray Merriman:

“With Saturn moving into Scorpio later this year as Pluto stays in Capricorn, it will be a time of reckoning and not only for the U.S., but for Japan and also Europe,” warned Merriman.  “Pluto represents debt and Capricorn and Saturn represent accountability. You experience the consequences of your actions in regards to debt when the planets are in that position. The best case scenario is a sobering one where all sides agree it will be a five to 8 year process to fix these major economies. The worst case scenario is that spending continues to exceed revenue, and the credit worthiness of any of these nations is downgraded yet again. Europe and the U.S. are both vulnerable to this potential reality, and it is coming soon, before 2014.”

The article even delves into the astrology of the US Sibly chart and the fact that Uranus and Pluto will be in challenging aspects to the US Sun from 2013-2015.  This is likely to be extremely significant to the fate of the United States and I’ll be writing more about this in the months to come.

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Wild swings in financial markets and a look ahead

August 19, 2011 By

stock market astrologyThe US stock market has been manic-depressive lately, swinging from wild highs to abysmal lows.

Mercury began to station (its apparent motion slowed down to a crawl) on August 2nd and it turned retrograde on August 4th.  On August 2nd the benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 266 points, and the next day it recovered some ground.

All retrogrades seem to bring about some kind of reversal in the stock market – sometimes the market will  swing higher rather than lower. But this retrograde occurred as  Uranus (sudden change) and Pluto (destruction/regeneration) came within one degree of a challenging square formation and the sense of instability and potential for crisis was universal.

Then aggressive Mars entered the emotional sign of Cancer on August 3rd and emotions took over the reactions of investors.  The Dow went up on the 3rd, and then with the retrograde turn of Mercury on the 4th plunged over 500 points.  This has been a market of reactivity which is not surprising when you consider that when Mars entered Cancer it began to face off in challenging aspects to Uranus and Pluto, setting off the fears of instability and change.  And let’s not forget the Full Moon on August 13th which evidently heightened those fears and resulted in a drop of 630 points.

After Mars passed through the window of the aspect to Uranus and Pluto there were a few days of calm, but yesterday, with Mars within three degrees of a challenging aspect to Saturn (the voice of anxiety) the market fell another 400 points.

Using astrology to predict stock market movement is a science that involves more than just an examination of planetary formations.  Each company has its own chart, and the leadership of each company has their own chart, and all of this has to be set against the backdrop of the overall emotional climate in each country.  I am certainly not qualified to give financial advice based on the astrological indicators, but with Mars approaching that square to Saturn over the next few days I think it’s unlikely that we will hit any kind of bottom until after that aspect culminates on the 25th.

Over the next week or so Venus and the Sun leave optimistic Leo for Virgo, a sign that is more conservative in nature.  But before leaving Leo Venus and the Sun oppose mysterious and confusing Neptune on the 21st-22nd which could lead to a lack of clarity in Monday’s opening markets, especially since the shift in signs will occur immediately after the Neptune aspect.

Then on the 24th and 25th the Moon, in emotional Cancer, conflicts with Saturn, Uranus and Pluto which does not bode well for any kind of optimism in the markets which is the force that tends to push prices higher.   The Moon conjoins Mars on the 25th as it forms that exact square to Saturn (reality check) , but a number of positive aspects late in the day on the 25th and 26th suggest that the mood will begin to lighten.

By the time the markets open on the 29th the mood should be more favorable.  But this is NOT, I repeat NOT, to be taken as financial advice.  This is merely an astrological weather forecast and you never know when an unforeseen storm could arise!

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Financial news and the US Saturn Return

April 25, 2011 By

financial astrologyAs I wrote a few weeks ago, we are in the middle of the second phase of the Saturn Return in the US chart.  The Saturn return occurs every 28-30 years in a chart – whether of an individual, a marriage, or a nation – and requires that we learn the hard lessons of life in a material world.  Saturn insists that we keep our eyes open and nose to the grindstone, and develop positive habits that will help us to become successful.

The Saturn return in the US chart has brought with it the usual challenges, both financial and of a more subtle nature – the kind of “malaise”  that came with the last US Saturn Return.

The Wall Street Weather website is one of the best sources for financial astrology.  Deborah writes:

“Shock” and “surprise” were the words used to describe the market’s reaction Monday after Standard & Poor’s downgraded the outlook on the USA’s long term credit rating from “stable” to “negative” over concerns that the U.S. will delay addressing medium to long-term budgetary challenges until after the 2012 presidential election. Yet the real “surprise” was that the market was surprised since S&P (as well as Moody’s) had warned on January 13 that the USA’s outlook might be lowered in the future.

Those early warning shots were fired as Mars in Capricorn conjoined the USA’s natal Pluto, indicating serious and substantive action must be taken now to reduce the USA’s enormous debt mountain. Pluto in the sector of the USA chart representing the nation’s wealth and the overall economy reflects that a large amount of government spending is kept secret (“black budget”) and off the balance sheet. Government debt generates wealth for a select group of individuals and corporations (the plutocrats) who benefit from government (Capricorn) spending and bestowing all types of tax subsidies and loopholes for their benefit.

The ratings agencies’ warning came as Pluto in Capricorn was opposing the USA’s natal Jupiter for the first time in the nation’s history, indicating that the U.S. debt burden has become so large that decisions must be made to curtail its growth.(1) Reaching these decisions will force the nation to deal with the very deepest and most divisive ideological and philosophical issues of our time.

This challenging transit to the US chart of Pluto opposing Jupiter is just the continuation of a bigger cycle involving Pluto and the US Sun and Midheaven.  There’s no doubt that the US chart is undergoing a major Plutonian realignment under this influence, but the opposition to Jupiter will make it impossible to ignore or deny.

With Venus facing off with Pluto over the next few days I would expect financial matters to be dicey.  Venus rules not only relationships but also the things we value, including our valuables and money, and Pluto demands that we go deeper into the psyche and address imbalances of power or areas of life in which superficiality has led to problems.

All of us who are American citizens are affected by the US Saturn Return, and we must be exceedingly practical with regard to our connections to our American community.  Saturn wants us to work hard and be awake to our responsibilities, making this a good time to volunteer for causes we believe in (Pluto opposing Jupiter)  and build a stronger foundation for the future.

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Are we headed for another financial bubble?

March 8, 2011 By

Uranus will change signs this week, moving into Aries on Friday March 11th. Because Uranus rules sudden changes and shocking events, when it changes direction or changes signs it often signifies a radical shift in financial markets.

With the stock market reaching historic gains, some analysts are debating that we are approaching another bubble, and others argue that the market is more normal now after two years of artificially low prices.

The shift from Uranus into Aries is likely to bring with it a surge of courage that will infect everything in our lives with an increased proclivity to take risks.  Unlike Jupiter and Sagittarius, which imbue us with confidence and faith that all will end well, Uranus desires change and in Aries that change comes with an aggressive quality that thrives on danger.  I suspect we will see the return of day trading and this sort of investment behavior that almost invariably spells trouble.

The surge of Uranus in Aries will be followed by the confusion of Neptune’s movement into Pisces a few weeks later (April 5).  With Neptune in its own sign, the way will not seem as clear and one’s idealistic vision will appear more real than what the mind knows to be true.  Neptune’s last journey through Pisces (1848-1862) coincided with the California Gold Rush, in which “gold fever” swept the nation.

If I were giving financial advice, which I am not, I would continue to recommend being extremely prudent under these influences.  I personally believe that the danger of a global collapse is probably behind us, but the danger of becoming infected with illusion is probably not. Stable investments in tangible assets such as metals, actual real estate (rather than REITs), companies that are actually producing things and making real money – these are the places I’ll be putting my own money over the next months.  But this is not investment advice!

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The Dow at a 2-year high: can it last?

November 3, 2010 By

Wall Street loves a good Republican victory, and yesterday the financial press said that the market was up in anticipation of the Republicans taking the House.  Today the story was that a market reached a new high after the Federal Reserve decided to buy up $600 billion in Treasury securities.

Deborah at Wall Street Weather called this last week in her “Trick or Treat edition” and explained why it won’t work:

Photo from Huffington Post

Halloween is all about all kinds of terrifying creatures, ghosts and zombies (the living dead) roaming around. And what’s truly “unbelievably terrifying” to quote GMO’s Jeremy Grantham’s “Night of the Living Fed” is that every voting member of the FOMC has become a zombie except Thomas Hoenig.

The Fed acts like zombies because they continue to do the same thing over and over again. Fed Chairman Bernanke’s mentor is “Chief Zombie” Alan Greenspan who taught him that when one bubble bursts, another one needs to be conjured to create the “wealth effect.” In addition to promising near zero interest rates for an “extended period,” the Fed talks of the treats of QE2 and inflation targeting, so that all that debt (Scorpio/Pluto) left over from when the last bubble burst just over one Mars cycle (2 years) ago becomes cheaper to service.

The Fed wants investors to become zombies like them, under the illusion that reflating asset prices makes investors feel wealthier so they’re more likely to spend and employers are more likely to hire and grow their businesses. As PIMCO’s Bill Gross writes in his latest Investment Outlook: “The Fed, on Wednesday, however, will decide that it is better to keep the patient on life support with an adrenaline injection and a following morphine drip than to risk its demise and ultimate rebirth in another form.”

By trying to spare the economy from Pluto/Scorpio’s death and dying process that will take place one way or another over anyway, the Fed is only prolonging the pain at best and at worst runs the risk of keeping the economy in a zombie-like state for the next several years. Wall St. knows another round of quantitative easing won’t work, but they’ve become too addicted to the Fed’s drugs. That’s why the lead story in Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal hinting that QE2 could be much less than what the market was anticipating was enough to give the market pause. Imagine how the market might react if Bernanke was bluffing.

read more here…

This is what I’ve been saying too, and with Jupiter and Uranus moving ever closer to their conjunction right around New Year’s the euphoria is likely to continue to drive an optimistic market.

Pluto is still in Capricorn until 2023, making a crash to reality virtually assured at some point.  The markets can probably ride on pure euphoria through the end of the year which may generate enough momentum to push the economy forward so that the markets are standing on solid ground instead of mere optimism.  Saturn stations retrograde in late January, inspiring a re-evaluation of our reality, and shortly thereafter Venus enters Capricorn and squares Saturn.  These are not highly positive signatures for economic expansion.

This is not financial advice, but if it was I might consider this to be a good time for stock investing, keeping in mind that as long as Pluto is in Capricorn caution is advised.  I would probably mark the mid-January period to sell anything that doesn’t have very strong fundamentals as there are some signatures in February that look problematic for financial decisions.

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Stock market optimism continues a little longer

October 18, 2010 By

The conjunction of Jupiter to Uranus is still creating optimism in the markets that defy the news: “U.S. stocks closed higher Monday as investors were encouraged by earnings from Citigroup and a measure of home-builder confidence that topped expectations.” (read more here…)

Jupiter is the planet of confidence, and in tandem with Uranus it seeks sudden changes and liberation from negativity.  The combination of these two planets is not the most realistic time in the world, and we are seeing this manifesting in the market, which rebounded today based on supposed confidence from home builders after an index reported today that builder confidence is up.  The National Association of Home Builders chief economist interjected the voice of reason, saying “it could be another couple of years before the industry returns to normal.”  There are signs of recovery, and that we have turned the corner as I’ve been reporting here.  But the fundamentals are not strong enough yet to create real movement in the value of equities.

Mars is in Scorpio now, the sign of shared values and other people’s money (and therefore investments and the stock market), and Mars is moving into alignment to trine both Jupiter and Uranus.  This should be a pretty positive week for the financial markets, although the retrograde movement of Venus will keep things from moving too far, too fast.

October is often a down month for the Dow, but after the intense planetary cycles of this summer investors are ready for a return of happy exuberance.  They are likely to continue to find it until Mercury enters Scorpio on October 21st and begins to analyze the financial situation a little more thoroughly.

Overall, though, I continue to feel that we have turned the corner on the economic downturn and the overall health of businesses is already beginning to rise.  Still, the days of successful investing in optimism and exuberance alone are surely over!

Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/10/15/2550583/home-building-wont-recover-for.html#ixzz12kMNqCOR

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Stocks fall sharply as the Saturn/Pluto square approaches

August 11, 2010 By

This is what I’ve been warning about as Saturn and Pluto create an atmosphere of doom and gloom:

Stocks and interest rates tumbled Wednesday as investors around the world took a bleaker view of the U.S. economy.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 265 points, its biggest drop in six weeks, and all the major indexes fell more than 2 percent. The yield on the Treasury’s 10-year note fell to its lowest level since March 2009 as investors worried about the economy and avoiding stocks sought the safety of government securities.

Companies across a wide range of industries dropped Wednesday. Only 442 stocks rose on the New York Stock Exchange, while 2,627 fell, a sign that investors expect all businesses to suffer if the economy continues to weaken.

Investors’ gloom deepened a day after the Federal Reserve said it would begin buying government bonds as a way to stimulate the economy. News of slower industrial growth in China and a disappointing economic indicator in Japan helped send stocks plunging first in Asia, then in Europe and the U.S.

Saturn was the planet of death before Pluto came along, and Saturn and Pluto are not the most joyful of planets.  Saturn is all about reality testing, and Pluto seeks to destroy anything that is corrupt and rotting, so when the two of them meet in an energetic square we can generally expect the mood to dim.

I don’t see this as a bad thing, because it’s important to face the reality (Saturn) of the current worldwide economic situation rather than have blind hope for a return to the unrealistic growth of the past twenty years.  For investors this might turn out to be a very good thing, as the exact square of Saturn to Pluto, which occurs August 21, will likely be the bottom of the trough of investor confidence and promises to offer some good deals on stocks.  (Please note:  This is NOT financial advice!!!)

On the personal level, this is the final phase of the cycle which is usually less stressful than the beginning of the cycle, when the energy coming in has not yet been assimilated.

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Consumer confidence rose in April – what’s next?

April 28, 2010 By

It’s not surprising that consumers breathed a collective sigh of relief in April as Saturn, planet of restriction and limitation, retrograded out of reach of the challenging square to Pluto that has been evoking intense feelings of despair since it began last fall.  In addition we’ve seen Jupiter, planet of expansion and confidence, in the sign of Pisces which can be idealistic and hopeful to the extreme.  (To give you an idea how this works, the radio show I did on Jupiter’s entry into Pisces was titled “Santa Claus in Dreamland.”)

Jupiter is moving ever closer to a conjunction with Uranus which will intensify the urge to break free of the desolation and restriction that has kept consumer spending at a minimum over the past six months.  But Saturn, that Celestial Taskmaster, will oppose the other two and enforce the rules and boundaries of common sense.  Anywhere that improvement in the economy is based on fantasy and delusion, Saturn will force us to come back to earth.  However, it is also true that any improvement that is based on a real recovery will continue unabated.

Uranus is the planet of surprise, and it will briefly dip its toes into Aries at the end of May.  By early June, Jupiter will have joined Uranus in Aries and I suspect the economy will be pushing full steam ahead throughout the world for a month or so, until Uranus turns retrograde in early July.

It’s probably too early to celebrate a recovery, particularly if that recovery is based on consumer spending alone.  A healthy recovery in a Pluto in Capricorn world depends upon a solid foundation, which means good job numbers and a healthy savings portfolio.

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Astrological financial update

February 15, 2010 By

Venus and Jupiter only conjoin for a day or two, but when the two “benefics” get together it’s usually a very pleasant and optimistic time.  Today they conjoin in Pisces, the sign of mystical wonder and illusion.  Jupiter is particularly strong in Pisces because Jupiter is the traditional ruler of Pisces, so the positive energy should be fairly powerful today.

The financial markets are already reflecting this despite the fears over the amount of debt in Greece: Asian markets closed higher, as did Australia and New Zealand stock indexes.  Pisces rules oil, and oil prices took a big hike.

Following the stock market contraction that correlated with the challenging square from Saturn to Pluto at the end of January, planetary optimism is increasing which will likely bring about another rally in the markets.  The Pisces influence will continue as the Sun and Mercury both move into Pisces, and with them an increased ability to see the world through rose-colored glasses.  This is likely to continue until the beginning of March when Mars slows down before turning direct on March 10, followed by a challenging square of Venus to Pluto that will also slow things down or create reversals in the markets.

Disclaimer: This article is for general interest only and is NOT intended to be used as financial advice!!!

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