Stock Market Comments ForThe Week Beginning October 22, 2007

Written by Raymond Merriman

Review and Preview It was a very significant week after all, particularly on Friday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell a whopping 375 points. A look at many of the world’s equity indices will show that the critical reversal date of October 11 was indeed a major reversal from an important crest. That represented the all-time high not only in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, but also the S&P nearby futures, Brazil’s Bovespa, and multi-year highs in the Netherlands AEX, German DAX, London FTSE, and NASDAQ Composite. In Argentina, it was a double top to the all-time highs of last July. All-time highs also spilled over into this week in the Pacific Rim and Asian markets, notable the Hang Seng of Hong Kong, Australia’s All Ordinaries, and India’s Nifty Index. However, by the end of this week, many of the European and American markets suffered sharp losses. The losses were heaviest in the American markets, which continued to sell off after the Asian and European markets closed. Other markets were also prominent last week. Crude Oil continued its climb to a new record high on Friday by surpassing the $90.00/barrel mark intraday. Just one week ago, as the third and final passage of the square between Jupiter and Uranus took place, Crude Oil was putting in a major cycle trough at 78.35, It’s been almost vertical in price since then. Gold also continued soaring. It tested 775.00 on Friday, the highest level since the all-time highs of early 1980. However Silver did not fare so well. After trading above $14.00/ounce on Monday’s “Sagittarius Factor,” and testing 14,.00 again on Friday, it sold off over 50 cents intraday to close down for the week. The high on Monday was far below its high of even last year, so we have a developing case of “intermarket bearish divergence.” The Euro currency also soared to a new all-time high on Thursday, while the Dollar plunged to a new multi-decade low. Short-Term Geocosmics As stated in last week’s column, “The major planetary cluster in effect was centered on October 11 of last week. It involved the third and final waning square of Jupiter-Uranus (October 9), the Libra new moon and Mercury retrograde station on October 11, and the third and final conjunction of Venus and Saturn on October 13. I would expect that this week’s activity would be a reaction to those signatures that peaked last week (or early this week).” Indeed it was in the equity markets, and perhaps Silver as well. Last week’s column also stated, “For this week, we note the following geocosmic signatures. The “Sagittarius Factor” (Moon in Sagittarius will take place on Monday and Tuesday, coinciding with Venus sextile to Mars on Tuesday. The Sagittarius Factor has a tendency to produce sharp price swings in some financial and commodity markets, like currencies, T-Notes, and Silver.” We already pointed out the correlation to the multi-month high in Silver on Monday. But it should also be noted that T-Notes put in their primary cycle trough on Monday at 108/06. By Friday’s close, they were at 110/18, one of the sharpest gains in many moons. However, such a big run up in Treasuries, accompanied by a large sell-off in stocks, is a sign that the market is worried. Perhaps we can relieve some of this concern by reminding readers that Mercury is retrograde, October 11 through November 1. It is typically a time of mixed messages from political leaders an economic data, and it oftentimes results in such large price swings and fake outs, especially right around the 9th calendar day and 9th trading day, which is this weekend through the middle of next week. We also note that the all-time highs of the stock market occurred with the new moon in Libra, When the lunation in Libra coincides with a high, stock prices can fall sharply into the full moon two weeks later. The full moon occurs this Friday, October 26. I would suspect that if stocks continue down into the end of this week, it might be too much for Bernanke and Paulsen to bear. They may be moved to intervene again. But how? If they lower interest rates again, the Dollar could crash. Perhaps they have finally reached a point where they are in a corner. But I doubt. Jupiter is still in Sagittarius, a fire sign, and that tends to benefit our two fire sign saviors. They will think of something, for as stated before, they just aren’t going to allow a recession or crash to happen on their watch if at all possible. The thing is, we may not hear about what they orchestrate behind the scenes in the next two weeks if the market does continue lower, because this week we also enter the season of Scorpio – sign of secrets and behind-the-scenes activities. I expect this decline to end very soon. As stated in last week’s column, “This is a new moon week, and it happens on the day Mercury turns retrograde…. between October 8-27, Saturn and the South Node of the Moon will be conjunct. It’s possible that worry becomes heavy, and if prices do continue to decline into the following week, they may continue to do so for several more days. But in all likelihood, these signatures suggest that many declining markets will find a bottom by the end of this month, however sharp the decline is.” We also note that transiting Venus will translate the Jupiter-Uranus square of October 9, from October 25-29. I would expect that to be close to the end of this sharp sell-off, unless prices do fall below the lows of August 16-17. Longer-Term Thoughts There were a couple of news items on the front page of Friday’s “Wall Street Journal” which pertain to longer-term geocosmic signatures. The first was headline that stated: “The Senate Intelligence Panel approved a compromise with the White House that would extend some of the president’s expanded surveillance powers for six year’s.” This relates to the forthcoming ingress of Pluto in Capricorn, 2008-2023. In the words of Dr. Geoffrey Stone, law professor at the University of Chicago, “When civil liberties are at stake, there is a regular cycle: fear, repression, and repentance.” Pluto in Capricorn pertains to all of these themes. The second item, right below the first, stated “France’s biggest strike in 12 years crippled the nation’s public transport system. The walkout came as President Sarkozy said that he and his wife had divorced.” Talk about a bad day! You wake up the day of your divorce and your country’s public transportation work force walks off the job. This is a classical Saturn in Virgo event. Virgo rules the work force. Saturn is stoppage, and Mercury retrograde refers to problems in communications and transportation systems. It couldn’t be more apropos. Since Saturn is involved, and Mr. Sarkozy is president (Saturn role), chances are he will receive the brunt of the blame for this. Or maybe his ex-wife will, for reasons that I better not speculate upon in this column. But more to the point: Saturn is just beginning its two-year stint in Virgo, and this is the time that the common man – the workers of the world – gain power. They have the power to bring economies to their knees by simply refusing to work if they are not treated better. It is also why I think a Democrat will be the next president of the United States, unless the Republicans can find someone who represents the needs of the middle and working class, and somehow convinces the electorate that this gap between the “haves” and “have nots” can be brought more into line. Otherwise the middle class is in danger of disappearing. Saturn in Virgo is their last stand, and I think they take this primary concern to the election booth on election day. If not, then we have the darker side of Saturn in opposition to Uranus (revolt and revolution) to look forward to in 2009-2010. The question is only what form the revolt will take? Peaceful or violent? Uranus and Neptune in mutual reception suggests peaceful, which further suggests to me that a very dramatic leadership change is taking place in the November 2008 elections in the U.S.A.