Review and Preview

Equity indices around the world completed a leg of their current downturn between Friday, February 5 and Tuesday, February 9. Most then rallied modestly into Thursday and Friday, after which some then commenced another decline. This is all within last week’s overview, which stated, “Nevertheless, the geocosmic picture of this month is not so ugly. Venus will first conjunct Neptune on Monday, and then Jupiter on February 16. This is known as a “translation” of Venus to the separating Jupiter-Neptune conjunction…. Under these themes of optimism and hope, stock markets can rally. If not, the downside of these same signatures can be hysteria and panic. But it is March 9-21 that we want to focus the greater attention on in the near future. There will be nine important geocosmic signatures taking place then.”

The highs of January 11-19 in world equity markets continue to hold as highs for this year so far. But as mentioned above, many indices fell to lows that ended between February 5 and 9. In Europe, the DAX bottomed on February 5 at 5433. The AEX of Netherlands, FTSE of London, and SMI of Switzerland all bottomed on Monday, February 8. The AEX, however, made a slightly lower low on Friday, February 12. In between February 9 and 11, all of these indices posted modest rallies. The MICEX of Russia was restrained the entire week.

In Asia and the Pacific Rim, all the indices we track bottomed last Monday or Tuesday, and then all rallied into Thursday and Friday.

In the Americas, all the indices we track bottomed the week before on Friday, February 5. Each of these indices then rallied into Thursday, before pulling back again Friday. There were no yearly highs made last week. However, many of these indices are poised to rally again, on the basis of their technical strength, or at least a retracement of their recent oversold conditions. Additionally, there are no horrendous geocosmic signatures in effect for the remainder of this month. To the contrary, the geocosmic climate appears benign until March.

Crude Oil and precious metals also appear to have formed at least a trading cycle trough the previous Friday, February 5. Crude Oil bottomed at 69.50 then, and by Thursday had rallied back to 75.69. Gold bottomed at 1044.50 February 5, but by Thursday, February 11 had recovered back to 1098.40. March Silver fell to 1465 on February 5, but by Thursday of last week had recovered to 1573. The Euro currency, meanwhile, fell under 1.3600 again. The debt explosion is hitting the Euro community very hard, with several members on the verge of having their debt rating downgraded lower. It’s all about Pluto in Capricorn, the midpoint of the Saturn-Uranus opposition, and the focal point of the “Cardinal Climax” now underway, 2008-2015. Those leaders who cannot get their country’s finances in order, and who continue out-of-control, spending behavior of taxpayers monies, are courting both national and personal disaster. Pluto in Capricorn is a purging of leaders in business, banking, and government who are unable to control the Treasury’s debt explosion, or who are deemed to have personally benefitted at the expense of the common man, as may be the case with health insurance companies in the United States. Bankers and government leaders have been the scapegoat of populace anger so far, but that is likely to soon expand to include executives in the health insurance fields as Saturn and Uranus will soon make another opposition in the health related fields of Virgo and Pisces. Under this aspect, we can anticipate Congressional investigations and penalties to be parsed out to these individuals and companies in 2010. Many may be driven out of business as a result.

Short-Term Geocosmics

This week will find the Sun conjunct Neptune and Venus conjunct Jupiter on February 14 and 16 respectively. It is a perfect combination for Valentine’s Day, for both signatures can pertain to matters of the heart. There may be a lot of marriage proposals taking place at this time. In terms of markets, the Sun-Neptune conjunction is a strong Level One signature, which means it is in a select group of geocosmic signatures that have the highest correspondence to primary cycles in U.S. stocks within an orb of two weeks. In fact, it has a historical rate of frequency here of 79%, one of the highest correspondences of all signatures in Financial Astrology. The Venus-Jupiter conjunction is not nearly so strong. However, by its very nature, it can be favorable for stocks, for Venus rules stocks, and Jupiter pertains to optimism and hope.

In terms of astrological delineation, we note that Jupiter is also in Pisces, and co-rules Pisces. The other ruler of Pisces is Neptune. Thus, there are a lot of Neptune and Pisces themes likely this week. Since Pisces and Neptune have to do with romance and dreams, there may be an inordinate amount of “sweet” stories being reported on the news – stories of love, stories to stir the heart. But it should also be noted that Neptune and Pisces rule wishes more than realities. Therefore any “good news” for the stock market may be based more on hope than realities. The fact is that there is debt and too much of it. Still, this is a favorable time for President Obama to try and bring opposing sides together. There is a chance they may act “sweetly” with one another, at least for a few days. And any kind of civility in the political arena would be a welcomed change for most Americans.

Longer-Term Thoughts

As benign as February looks, March and April are shaping up to be more combative. Of great importance to Financial Astrologers will be the transits of Saturn and Pluto to the Federal Reserve Board chart. Not only are they square to one another, but Pluto will be sitting on the FRB natal Sun, which is opposite its Pluto, and Saturn will retrograde back to early Libra, forming a T-square to both. It may get even more intense in late May when Uranus enters Aries, making another square to both the FRB Sun and Pluto.

The Federal Reserve Board was founded December 23, 1913, at 6:02 PM in Washington DC, according to a New York Time story published the day after, sent to me by Astrologer Matt Carnicelli of New York City. The Sun in the FRB chart is posited at 1 degree, 32 minutes of Capricorn. The Sun represents the head of the FRB, or Ben Bernanke. Pluto, as a transit, usually means there is a change of powers, a change of duties. Bernanke was just approved for his second term as chair of the Fed, but his problems are not over. Although the White House wants to expand the powers of the Fed, there are several members of Congress who want to do just the opposite: they want to strip the Fed of many of its powers. With Saturn square the FRB Sun, it seems more likely that Congress – and not the White House or Fed – will win this battle. The Fed and Bernanke may find their roles becoming more limited and restricted.

No one knows Bernanke’s birth time. According to public records, he was born December 13, 1953 in Augusta, GA. My guess is that he was born around 8:10 AM, with Capricorn rising, perhaps very close to the same degree as the FRB Sun. I base this simply on my observation of this remarkable man. To me, he seems humble and not one who craves attention, as seems the case with so many leaders these days. He is more of a professional and academic, which fits with the Sun in Sagittarius in the 12th house. The Capricorn rising also fits with the idea that he is the head of the Federal Reserve Board. He has no other planets in Earth, and it is hard to conceive of this man without any earth planets, for Earth rules the mundane, practical side of life. Early Capricorn also fits, because there are otherwise no major aspects in the Cardinal Climax to his natal chart, and it is just improbable that he is not presently undergoing some “stress” as indicated by this huge astrological configuration. Early Capricorn rising in the horoscope of Mr. Bernanke would account for many of the pressures presently going on with the Fed, as well as many of the positive personal characteristics that can be observed about the Fed chair. I personally wish him much luck in the battles that seem inevitably looming on the horizon, for the alternatives to his leadership (more government involvement in the country’s banking management) will not likely elicit much confidence on the part of the world financial community, or even ordinary citizens.