Both Mercury and Neptune
go Retrograde early this week as Venus makes another harsh aspect
with Saturn – and, this time, without the benefit of any special
protection.
Oil is in an accelerating blow-off
and oil prices are likely to be affected negatively by Neptune’s
apparent reversal, since it has joint rulership over the oil sign,
Pisces.
The Mercury Retrograde indicates a
need for extra precautions. A number of expert financial astrologers,
like Kaye Shinker, rarely trade during the Mercury Rx period. Kaye’s
research, outlined in her Textbook For Financial Astrology, suggests
indices like the
DJI very often end the Mercury Rx period with prices within a per
cent of where they were when the period started.
Of course, they can go a lot further
than a mere one per cent before arriving back at the starting gate!
However, in my experience using the
planetary lines available in software from Galactic, I find an index
will tend to hook on to a Mercury price line and stay with it for
the duration of the Rx period.
Since the Rx lines curve, this is
what brings them back to within a per cent or two of the price they
were at when the phenomenon started. We need another week of price
action on the charts to see if indices like the DJI, the FTSE and
the ASX 200 repeat their normal pattern of Mercury Rx behaviour.
If they do, we are more likely to
see what reveals itself as sideways action, rather than another
precipitous drop.
In last weekend’s report, I
urged great caution with Long positions because markets were very
likely to drop after making an exhaustion move higher.
That position unfolded very early
in most markets, with the Dow, the S&P 500, the FTSE and the
ASX spiking higher on Monday and collapsing strongly for the rest
of the week after the Monday push could not hold the gains.
The potential for that collapse to
happen became pretty clear as we examined last week’s charts.
Unfortunately, I cannot be as confident
about predicting the precise form the price action is likely to
take over the next two weeks.
I know many market watchers are now
predicting a retest of the March Lows and that some are predicting
a huge and ongoing fall – a return to primary Bear conditions.
I do not have that level of confidence.
A bounce higher in the next few days is likely, but
it is likely to be a trend of first-degree – meaning it would
last only one to three days and not be a terribly strong bounce.
It is the nature of the decline which
follows the bounce I am more uncertain about. I expect it will be
of at least a second-degree nature – meaning a probable decline
lasting a minimum of 7 days in total.
I just cannot predict with any certainty
how deep it will go, because the indices have a habit of hooking
on to a Mercury line and sticking with it during the Rx period.
One facet of Mercury Rx periods which
is reliable is that there can be “confusion” with communications.
Internet links suddenly go awry, technical signals get whip-sawed,
and the “news” can be contradictory.It’s even
possible during Mercury Rx to hit the “Sell” button
when one intended to hit the “Buy” button!
I’ve been travelling for the
past week and, on top of that, lost my Internet connection for two
days at the end of the week when a heavy rainstorm flooded the basement
of my apartment building in Bangkok. C’est la vie as Mercury
goes Rx.
So, once again, this weekend’s
World report will be shorter than the usual. We will return to normal
reports, with a full range of major world indices, the following
weekend.
In overall terms, we are approaching
a period which should see an important trend change. A cluster of
Fibonacci turn dates is approaching from the end of May to early
June – and a major Bradley Model turn date is due to occur
in the same period.
In addition, there is a cluster of
cycle bottoms also due at the same time.
All these factors – the planetary
Retrogrades, the cycle and Fibonacci clusters, the Bradley indicator
– suggest we are should soon settle the question of where
the markets will go for the next few months.
At this stage, I am still expecting
a bottom to form so that stock markets can rally for a few months,
before another significant drop towards the end of the year.
However, we need to see exactly how
the charts set up over the next few weeks before we can judge the
real potential for that scenario to unfold.
In the meantime, I believe an imminent
crash scenario is unlikely, even though we could normally expect
a fast downtrend to resume following the exhaustion into temporary
price highs early last week.
Not only is the astrological energy
not as negative as it was early in the year, but there has been
no confirmed Hindenburg Omen. No Hindenburg is a pretty good signal
there will be no sudden crash.
But, let’s see what the charts
are suggesting lies immediately ahead.
UNITED STATES
Dow Jones Transports
[click
to view the charts and download the entire Adobe PDF file]
Last weekend, I suggested the Transports were at a level where a
pullback in prices would be completely normal...
CLICK
HERE to download
the full version of this report with all technical charts and further
comments. (PDF format)
The World At Large is delivered in advance to Astrological
Investing Premium Member subscribers. Randall Ashbourne
is a former journalist and political strategist residing in Australia.
*QHT Technical Charts created using Quick
Harmonic Trader Software, by P.A.S. Astro-Soft, Inc. makers
of Galactic Investor Astrology software.
***
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