Week of July 25

Review and Preview:

Once again, stock markets throughout the world rallied last week. The Australian All ordinaries made another new all-time high, reaching 4325 on Friday. The Hang Seng of Hong Kong made a new 4-year high at 14,800 on Friday. But in this same region, the Japanese Nikkei failed to make a new yearly high, touching 11,867 on Thursday before gapping down in an apparent reversal on Friday. In Europe , three of the four markets we track made new 3-yeat highs, including the German DAX, Netherlands AEX, and the Swiss stock index. But the London FTSE could not take out is high from the prior week. And in the United States , the NASDAQ Composite barely made a new high for this year by touching 2193 on Thursday, just two points higher than the prior high of 2191 on January 3. The S&P continued to make new three year highs, but the Dow Jones Industrial Average could only rally to 10,700 on Thursday, far off its March 7 high of 10,984. Thus we continue to note the Intermarket bearish divergence pattern in indices throughout the world in every region, which persists as a troubling sign to the hard core bulls. In the other index we track, the Argentina Merval Index, prices seem trapped in congestion between 1350 and 1550.

That so many markets continue to rally is not too surprising, given that the final Jupiter-Neptune trine aspect still looms ahead on August 17. This might even bring crude oil prices to another rally shortly, event though prices are well off their highs of over $62.00/barrel from a couple weeks ago. There seems to be support down around the 55.00-56.00 area.

There was noteworthy political news last week too, with President Bush's pick of John G. Roberts as the replacement for Sandra Day O'Connor as justice to the Supreme Court. More on this later.

Short-Term Geocosmics:

Most of the new equity highs that formed last week were within the geocosmic cluster zone of July 11 through July 23. Thus it is possible that we are seeing long-term and primary cycle highs form right now, for they are due. However, we still have to keep open the possibility that the astrologically harmonious trine aspect between Jupiter and Neptune (due August 17) could continue to act like a magnet pulling prices even higher.

But they don't have to continue going up. Mercury is beginning its retrograde motion now, July 22 through August 15. Anything can happen with Mercury retrograde, one of the most unpredictable times for forecasting market prices that happens about three times per year. For this reason, we usually do not make specific recommendations in any market, but rather advise traders and investors to either take a vacation, or trade extremely short-term. It seems that these periods coincide with many cross-messages between bullish and bearish signals. In both economics and politics, the messages are unclear, or prone to almost instant reinterpretation. The result is confusion, or uncertainty, and consequently financial markets start to move in one direction, but then pause after 1-4 days, and reverse in the opposite direction for 1-4 days, then pause and reverse again. And during this back and forth motion, technical levels of price support (lows) and resistance (highs) may be broken, but only temporarily, as in a fake-out. In market terminology, we call this “whipsaw” behavior. In everyday life, it is a dynamic that leads many astrologers to advise clients to not make binding decisions, or to put off such decisions if possible for about three weeks. Yet at the same time, I find the early part of this period to be very intuitive, and prone to moments of great original thinking. As a result, I look forward to the first days of Mercury retrograde, for personally, it seems to be a time of optimal mental clarity. It's just that the rest of the world seems rushed and confused .

Aside from Mercury turning retrograde, we can look forward next week to Mars entering Taurus. Due to the fact that Mars will turn retrograde in this sign, it will remain in Taurus for nearly 7 months, when it normally stays in a sign only about 6-7 weeks. Mars, the planet of assertion and aggression, combines with Taurus, the sign of values and possessiveness. One possible expression of this combination is that of an “aggressive-possessive” behavior, wherein parties are really motivated to make money and keep it. But it doesn't relate to just money. It is a sense of ownership. We might see more than the usual number of conflicts over property or areas of influence, where one party feels the other is encroaching beyond their agreed upon (or assumed) boundaries, and into the territory of the other party. This may pertain not to just property, but also to spheres of influence and roles of authority. It is a time when it is important to respect each person's role and duties, and not overstep one's own.

Typically Mars in Taurus is a period when tensions escalate in the Middle East between Israel and its neighbors, where each party feels the right to certain boundaries and ownership. Expect Crude Oil to remain volatile during this time, and maybe even have several sharp spikes to ever higher levels, perhaps finally reaching triple digits in prices before Mars leaves Taurus.

Longer-Term Thoughts:

Let's talk about abortion for a minute in this part of the column. Pluto is the planetary principle associated with abortion (as well as debt, as discussed in prior reports). When Pluto was in Libra (1970's), a consensus formed—an agreement—that abortion would be legal, at least in the United States . This is consistent, I think, with Pluto in Libra. But from 2008 through 2024, Pluto will go into Capricorn. Now the principle of abortion moves into the sign of restriction and the government. Do we think that abortion will not once again be mandated as an illegal act in the U.S.?

This week, President George W. Bush revealed his choice for a Supreme Court justice. To nobody's surprise, it is a jurist who is pro-life. But, to the surprise of many, he is not a choice that seems to elicit much dissention, and the process of his acceptance is expected to go smoothly. It is not likely to be the “war to end of all wars.” And astrologically this makes sense because Jupiter is still in Libra until late October. Jupiter in Libra is a time when parties are able to agree on something like a Supreme Court nominee. The “war to end all wars” in the selection of a top jurist in the U.S. is more likely to occur after Jupiter enters Scorpio, and forms a T-square to Saturn in Leo, and that Mars retrograde in Taurus. It is my opinion that there will soon be another vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court to fill, and it will happen during the signature of Jupiter square to Saturn, from Scorpio to Leo, and it will be a much more difficult process towards acceptance than the one we shall witness shortly.

Announcements:

The SOS Stock Market Cycles Report comes out this week to subscribers of that service. These reports cover our long-term cycles analysis of the U.S. stock market as well as the XAU Gold and Silver Mining Index. This report also covers our analysis of the German DAX, Netherlands AEX. London FTSE, Australian All Ordinaries, Hang Seng of Hong Kong, and other markets. It is issued 8 times per year, and costs $175.00 for one year, or $45.00 for a two-issue trial. For further information, please go to Services on our website.

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The ISAR 2005 Biennial Conference is taking place in Chicago, August 17-21, 2005. There will be an outstanding Financial Astrology track featuring well-known financial astrologers like Arch Crawford and myself. There will also be a track on Sun signs for beginning students of astrology, plus lots of tracks for more advanced students. Sign up by May 1 and qualify for a substantial savings. Click for more information.

Disclaimer and statement of purpose: The purpose of this column is not to predict the future movement of various financial markets. However, that is the purpose of the MMA (Merriman Market Analyst) subscription services. This column is not a subscription service. It is a free service, except in those cases where a fee may be assessed to cover the cost of translating this column from English into a non-English language. This weekly report is written with the intent to educate the reader on the relationship between astrological factors and collective human activities as they are happening. In this regard, this report will oftentimes report what happened in various stock and financial markets throughout the world in the past week, and discuss that movement in light of the geocosmic signatures that were in effect. It will then identify the geocosmic factors that will be in effect in the next week, or even month, or even years, and the author’s understanding of how these signatures will likely affect human activity in the times to come. The author (Merriman) will do this from a perspective of a cycle’s analyst looking at the military, political, economic, and even financial markets of the world. It is possible that some forecasts will be made based on these factors. However, the primary goal is to both educate and alert the reader as to the psychological climate we are in, from an astrological perspective. The hope is that it will help the reader understand these psychological dynamics that underlie (or coincide with) the news events and hence financial markets of the day.

No guarantee as to the accuracy of this report is being made here. Any decisions in financial markets are solely the responsibility of the reader, and neither the author nor the publishers assume any responsibility at all for those individual decisions. Reader should understand that futures and options trading are considered high risk.

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