Review and preview
The Labor Department reported Friday that payrolls grew by 236,000 for the month, compared to the Dow Jones estimate for 238,000. The unemployment rate ticked lower to 3.5%, against expectations that it would hold at 3.6%. Though it was close to what economists had expected, the total was the lowest monthly gain since December 2020. – Jeff Cox, “Job Growth Totals 236,000 in March,” www.cnbc.com/, April 7, 2023.
Lawmakers are growing more uneasy about raising the debt ceiling, the self-imposed $31.38 trillion borrowing limit they hit in January. Without new legislation, a default by the US government could come over the summer or in early September, according to various analyses. (Jamie) Dimon, who has worked closely with the White House and Congress this year on various economic problems, told (Poppy) Harlow that there would be no default under his watch. “Not as long as I’m alive.” – Nicole Goodkind, “There Are Storm Clouds Ahead for the Economy, JPMorgan Chase CEO Says,” CNN Business, April 7, 2023.
It was a shortened holiday week for global markets. However, it was still noteworthy for many markets related to the Venus/Uranus conjunction in Taurus on March 30. The 4-day allowable orb (trading days) finally kicked in early last week, April 4-5, for most global stock indices, which ended strong 3-week rallies off their primary cycle lows of March 13-20. In some cases, new highs for this year were attained last week during this allowable time band for a reversal or pause.
In Europe, the German DAX soared to its highest level in over a year on April 4. The Zurich SMI came close to its high of January 17, 2023, on Friday and near its highest level since June 2022. The Netherlands AEX rallied also to a high on April 4, and the London FTSE rallied all week. Each is up smartly from their lows of March 13-20, MMA’s last three-star geocosmic critical reversal zone.
Asia and the Pacific Rim were mixed. China’s SSE index and India’s NIFTY index rallied all week, with China nearing its high for 2023. Both Japan’s Nikkei and Australia’s ASX indices peaked early in the week, on April 4-5. The Hang Seng of Hong Kong was an outlier, having peaked the prior week on March 31.
The U.S. indices complimented one another. Each topped out on April 4, just three trading days after the Venus/Uranus conjunction. For the NASDAQ, the rally marked its highest point since mid-August. All three indices confirmed their primary cycle troughs of March 13-15.
In other markets, Crude Oil rallied to 81.81, up 27% from its low of 64.36 on March 20. Both Gold and Silver rallied to new yearly highs, with June Gold testing 2050 and Silver crossing 25.00 on April 5. Ethereum leaped to 1914, its highest price since mid-August, but Bitcoin was unable to exceed its high of March 30, the prior week, when Venus conjoined Uranus, thus creating a case of intermarket bearish divergence off a Uranus aspect.
Short-term geocosmics
The only political reality worth daily focus is that the Democrats are locked on one goal: making Mr. Trump the Republicans’ presidential nominee. In that bloodless calculation, his candidacy is their best path to holding the White House—and then remaking American politics and culture for at least a generation… The Trumpians in a white heat this week over the persecution of their guy won’t want to hear this, but there is a surer path to revenge: Nominate someone other than Donald Trump. He can’t win. But another nominee almost certainly can defeat the unpopular Mr. Biden. – Daniel Henninger, “The Targeting of Donald Trump,” Wall Street Journal, April 6, 2023.
The next 11 days will be filled with several important geocosmic reversal signatures. First, the Sun will conjoin Jupiter in Aries on April 11, the same day that Venus will enter Gemini and trine Pluto in Aquarius. As stated last week regarding the Venus/Pluto trine in air signs, “We may get a preview of the coming Renaissance I’ve talked about in this column when Uranus and Pluto trine one another 2025-2028.” Well, enjoy the positivity as much as you can early this week, especially with the fiery Sun and Jupiter together in the fire sign of Aries. Get out, get active, and connect with those you enjoy. If you need to make a deal or an agreement, now is the time to do so.
By the end of next week, Venus will form a waxing square with Saturn in Pisces. Now it gets complicated because the emotions get entangled with the tricks of the mind. You may not know whether to talk yourself into or out of the relationship or agreement. For a trader, this is the dilemma of whether to buy, sell, or hold on to a position. There are too many pros and cons to a decision. Let me make it easier for you; if a market is declining into a Venus/Saturn hard aspect, you buy. However, keep in mind that the following week presents a solar eclipse with both the Sun and Moon in the last minutes of Aries, square to Pluto in 0° Aquarius, April 19-20, depending on where you live. The next day, Mercury turns retrograde in mid-Taurus. Talk about the mind playing tricks on your trading decisions, and the next two weeks could be real mind-benders. Personally, I like the four days surrounding Mercury retrograde. I find my intuition is usually very good then, but after that is when the Trickster gets on my nerves.
Longer-term thoughts
There are very few astrologers who have been practicing professionally for as long as I have. I began my studies in 1967 and passed the AFA (American Federation of Astrologers) professional certification exam in 1971, the youngest person to do so at the time (and perhaps still to this day).
There are very few financial astrologers who have been in practice as long as I have. My first foray into the correlation of astrology with the stock market began in 1978 and escalated in early 1980 when I met renowned cycles analyst and commodities trader Walter Bressert. It was through Bressert that I became interested in Gold and wrote the first quantitative study on the correlation of planets to a financial market (The Gold Book: Geocosmic Correlations to Gold Price Cycles, 1982).
However, very few (if any) astrologers – financial or consulting – have dedicated as much of their life to the development of the modern-day astrological profession and the building of today’s global astrological community as I have. It has been the goal of my adult life to research and demonstrate the correlation of cycles in the cosmos to cycles in human activity. And in the process of pursuing this goal, I have not only discovered a treasure trove of knowledge and understanding but also a large community of like-minded individuals who shared this amazing journey of building a colorful and wonderful global network that revolutionized the awareness of astrology’s value in today’s society. For that – for the passion of discovery plus the experience of harmony in working and building with others – I feel truly blessed in this lifetime. This isn’t the life I thought I would be living when I was twenty. It is much better.
This month, astrology’s leading journal in the U.S. – The Mountain Astrologer – has published the first part of my life-long journey on the development of today’s astrological community. The title of this two-part series is “My 50 Years of Community Service to Astrology.” The first part is now available to subscribers of The Mountain Astrologer at https://mountainastrologer.com/zineshop/. If you are interested in how astrology changed from a hobby (prior to 1990) to a profession for tens of thousands of today’s career astrologers and the role I (along with several other leading astrologers of today) played in this transformation, consider taking out a subscription to this month’s TMA (The Mountain Astrologer) and find out how this revolution went down. It is a very Uranian tale told through the eyes of a very Sagittarian/Capricornian storyteller. That would be me, with the Sun and Moon in Capricorn and ruling planet Mercury in Sagittarius. Enjoy! It’s a good ride – the kind you would think with Mercury in Sag.
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 cycles’ 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 the 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.
