Review
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose on Friday, wrapping an eighth consecutive winning session and registering its best week of 2024…. Investor enthusiasm was kept in check after consumer sentiment data released Friday morning showed a big uptick in inflation expectations. The preliminary May reading for the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index came in at 67.4, far below a Dow Jones estimate of 76 and marking its lowest reading in about six months. The data could indicate that “inflation is not moving in the right direction either,” said Brian Nick, senior investment strategist at the Macro Institute. “You get hit from both sides — people think things are worse than the economy and they’re going to stay worse, and they’re worried about inflation. And that’s not a happy formula for stocks or bonds.”
—Pia Singh and Sarah Min, “Dow Jumps More than 100 Points to Post 8th Winning Day and Best Week of 2024,” www.cnbc.com, May 10, 2024.
It was another positive week for most global stock indices, reaffirming our labeling that the lows of April 17-19 were primary cycle troughs. However, only a few indices made new all-time highs, and more will have to follow soon, or the dominance of the 4-year cycle could send equity markets spiraling downward as we are now well into the time band when it is due.
In Asia and the Pacific Rim, China and Hong Kong indices were the leaders, with strong rallies to multi-month highs. Japan’s Nikkei and the Australian ASX had modest rallies but remain well short of their recent all-time highs. In India, the NIFTY actually fell after posting an all-time high the previous week.
Europe was very strong for equities as the Netherlands AEX, German DAX, and London FTSE all posted new all-time highs on Friday. The Zurich SMI also rallied smartly but closed the week a little shy of its all-time high.
In the U.S., all three major indices enjoyed rallies last week, but each also fell short of taking out their all-time highs recorded on March 21 in the DJIA and NASDAQ and April 1 in the S&P. With Uranus being highlighted for the next two weeks and these indices near their all-time highs, it would not be a surprise to see them notch new records shortly. Uranus (the disruptor) has a knack for breaking through long-standing boundaries like support and resistance.
Gold and Silver also rallied smartly last week. In the case of Gold, prices rose from a low of 2285 one week ago on May 3 to 2385 on Friday. The recent all-time high was 2448.80 on April 12, the same day Silver made its yearly high of 29.91. On Friday, May 10, Silver got back to 29.00. Both metals are within striking distance of their recent highs as Uranus comes into the cosmic mix again. Crude Oil and Bitcoin are still struggling to get some traction off of their recent lows and may be more vulnerable to new lows this year if they cannot find a bottom or secondary bottom this week.
Short-Term Geocosmics
This is a big period for geocosmic activity related to reversals or breakouts in financial markets. Both the Sun and Venus will conjoin Jupiter and Uranus from May 13 to 23. This is important to students of financial astrology because it represents the first “translation” of the important 14-year Jupiter/Uranus conjunction that took place on April 20-21, a synodic cycle that we highlighted in our Forecast 2024 book and webinar as likely coinciding with new all-time highs this year for stocks, Gold, and Bitcoin. The highs occurred in March and April followed by a corrective decline into the conjunction.
A “translation” occurs when a faster-moving planet aspects two slower-moving planets still in the orb of their aspect. Sometimes, the “translation” event is more spectacular in financial markets than the longer-term planetary aspect date itself. Will this “translation” result in another re-test of those lows (secondary lows) or a breakout to new all-time highs? Or something totally different and surprising? We must also remember that hard aspects involving Uranus are often present during natural or human-induced calamities (tornadoes, tsunamis, earthquakes, electrical blackouts, terrorism, etc.). They can also be present when impressive discoveries, inventions, and/or technological innovations are launched, even in the case of space travel. At its best, it is inspirational to see what humankind is capable of creating when it is positive and potentially uplifts the collective spirit. This might coincide with a new effort toward world peace that garners sudden support.
I will say this: I was in Miami for the last month and went clubbing with my wife Antonia (she likes to dance) at the Boho Club about a week ago. It was amazing—and inspirational. There, I witnessed people of all colors and nationalities dancing and laughing and enjoying partying with one another. There was no separation of Blacks, Whites, Hispanics, Jews, Arabs, Latinos, Cubans, Baby Boomers, Millennials, Gen X’s, Y’s, Z’s, and whatever other alphabets society assigns to people today. Everyone—and there were hundreds—danced with one another as if in a moveable and rhythmic group hug. I was inspired. When I witness this kind of spirit, I have hope for humanity. I believe this is what most people really want in life—just to enjoy one another without all the labels and identity politics of politicians and news stories with biased opinions that divide us into camps that fight each other.
Everyone should move to Miami and experience cultures blending together, dancing and laughing, as it was meant to be. Maybe the aftereffects of Jupiter/Uranus are working in ways that we (as astrologers) hoped would be possible. The themes I experienced in Miami are certainly consistent with the best qualities of both planets.
Longer-Term Geocosmic Thoughts on the History of Jupiter and Uranus
The 14-year Jupiter/Uranus conjunction has now passed as of April 20-21, with various stock indices having made new all-time highs within one month of the event. It happened in March for the DJIA and NASDAQ and in April for the S&P. Is that it? Will the U.S. and other global stock indices now start a new bear market? Not necessarily, according to our research studies published in The Ultimate Book on Stock Market Timing Volume 2: Geocosmic Correlations to Investment Cycles. This study involved the past 11 cases regarding the Jupiter/Uranus conjunction going back to 1872 through 2010 and concluded:
“Despite the seemingly low C/S values, this was still a very significant aspect. In six cases (55%), the DJIA soared to new all-time highs close to the time this conjunction was unfolding. In ten cases (91%), the market made a significant crest — always in the same month or within 7 months after the aspect (and usually 4 months or less). This implies that if the market is rising into the conjunction of Jupiter and Uranus, it will not top out before the aspect unfolds — and usually a little afterwards. On the other hand, if the market was declining into this aspect, it would complete its bottom within 1 month and then make a very powerful reversal back upwards. If a long-term cycle has bottomed within a year before, be long going into (and maybe slightly beyond), especially if the market is breaking to new record highs.”
Note: This summation was actually written in this volume’s first edition published in 1999.
The U. S. stock market did complete a 50-week cycle trough in late October 2023, within one year of the April 20-21, 2024, aspect. According to this history, another new all-time high will likely form within the next seven months, and probably within four months following the aspect (that is, by August 2024). This is just about a perfect correlation to classical astrology principles regarding aspects. That is, Jupiter is the planet of “good fortune” and is in favorable aspects to Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto from April 20 through June 2. But in mid-August, it switches to a square aspect with Saturn, the planet associated with fear and loss when in a hard aspect. We will need to watch closely for changes in investor sentiment around that time and prepare an investment plan accordingly.
We will discuss that strategy more fully in next week’s MMA Mid-Year Financial Markets Investment Webinar on May 18. It might be a good idea to attend this event if you have substantial long-term stock positions. It’s not just the astrological signatures indicating a challenging period ahead, but the 4-year and 50-week cycles are converging then as well. Enjoy this upswing while it lasts. But have a plan in place as Jupiter morphs from sextiles and trines into a square with Saturn in mid-August, and Mars becomes a translation trigger at the same time.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
NOTE 1: ONE MORE WEEK! May 18, 2024: 3 PM EDT (noon PDT, 7 PM GMT-Greenwich), the Annual MMA Mid-Year Market Webinar with MMA Market Analysts!!! In the comfort of your own home or office, you can tune in to MMA’s annual Mid-Year Financial Markets Update Webinar. This broadcast will be hosted by Raymond Merriman and will include updates for the next several months with following top MMA market analysts: Stocks, Gold, and Bitcoin (Merriman), T-Notes and Yen (Gianni Di Poce), Euro and U.S. Dollar (Ulric Aspegren), Copper, (Matthieu Kaiser), Crude Oil and Silver (Pouyan Zolfagharnia), and Soybeans (Wyatt Fellows). This webinar will last approximately three hours (approximately 20 minutes per market plus a Q&A session). The cost is $55 and includes access to the live presentation via Zoom, the slides of the presentation, plus the video recording of the live event 24 hours after the presentation. Questions submitted one week before the event will be answered if they are deemed of interest to the overall audience. This is MMA’s once-a-year midterm market update. If you cannot attend live, the video recording will be available the following Monday. To register, click here.
NOTE 2: THE MAY ISSUE OF THE MMA Monthly Cycles Report will be released this Monday and Tuesday, May 14-15. The Jupiter/Uranus conjunction of April 20-21 has now passed. Stock indices and precious metals completed corrective declines from their all-time highs into that period, as projections of Fed monetary policy have flip-flopped from easing prior to mid-March to tightening into mid-April and back again to easing as we reached mid-May, all in line with what was projected based upon MMA’s unique market timing and forecasting methodology. What do our studies suggest now for financial markets as we prepare for the summer months? Each monthly MMA Cycles Report covers the outlook in the U.S. stock market, Gold, Silver, Copper, Treasuries, the Euro currency, Crude Oil, and Soybeans. The MMA Monthly Cycles Report also provides MMA’s original geocosmic critical reversal dates (CRDs) and solar/lunar reversal dates over the next several weeks, as well as trading strategies for position and aggressive traders. If you would like to try out one month of the MMA Monthly Cycles Report, you can sign up for the May Report for only $35! Or save by ordering a 3-month or one-year subscription.
NOTE 3: COMING SOON! THE MMA SOLAR/LUNAR APP FOR IPHONE USERS! The beta-testing stage is nearly complete on the first MMA app for short-term traders. This is the newest and ultimate market timing app for active traders, based on the most recent historical data from MMA, “The Leader in Market Timing Services and Products!”
Here are some of the valuable features that will be available on the new MMA Solar/Lunar Reversal App:
– Solar/lunar reversal scores on each day for the DJIA, Gold, and Silver
-Values based on the daily price movements of the last 40+ years and their historical correlation to isolated highs or lows from which the market has reversed 3% or more (4% in Silver)
-Historical frequency of reversals broken down into “All,” “Only Highs,” and “Only Lows.”
-Indicates the “Big Range Day” scores for short-term (day) traders
-Displays the daily weighted value reversal scores for the upcoming two weeks
-Notifications (optional) of the exact time the Moon and Sun change signs (new weighted values scores go into effect)
– Informative FAQ and a section on “How to Trade Markets Using MMA’s Solar/Lunar Values – the Setup!”
-Very attractive, easy-to-use, and convenient app for iPhone users
If you are a short-term trader or one looking for high-probability dates for short-term profitable trading reversals based on historical studies that identify isolated lows or highs in the DJIA, Gold, or Silver markets, this is the app to have! Due out this month. Stay tuned for a special introductory announcement and offer!
NOTE 4: The MMA 2024 Investment Retreat Is Now Open For Registration!!! This special event will take place at the Rikli Balance Hotel, located in the Julian Alps region of beautiful Lake Bled, Slovenia. This will be MMA’s first investment retreat in Europe since 2015. You won’t want to miss this chance to hear the outlooks and wealth-building strategies using MMA market timing methods by top MMA analysts Raymond Merriman (USA), Gianni Di Poce (USA), Ulric Aspegrén (Switzerland), Pouyan Zolfagharnia (UK), Irma Schogt (Netherlands), Matthieu Kaiser (France), Rita Perea (USA), Vincent Wang (Singapore), Wyatt Fellows (USA), plus special guest speakers Claude Weiss (Switzerland) and Aleksandar Imsiragic (Serbia). Special attention will be given to the stock markets of the USA, Germany, China, and Japan, plus Gold, Silver, Copper, Bitcoin, Wheat, Crude Oil, Real Estate, and interest rates. There is nothing quite like a life-altering MMA Investment Retreat! The cost is $3500, but only $3000 if you register before August 1, live, in person, or online. Sign up early if you wish to attend in person to secure one of the limited rooms reserved for our group at the fabulous Rikli Balance Hotel right on Lake Bled. To register for this spectacular event, click here. To see the full brochure, schedule, topics, and speakers’ bios, click here.
NOTE 5: Ray was recently interviewed by Joni Patry and Shreekala Ram for this month’s Astrological Insights magazine. Joni Patri hosts this journal and is a world-renowned astrologer. Shreekala Ram is a certified MA in Vedic Astrology (Vedic Living LLC). No, Ray is not a Vedic Astrologer, but he has many colleagues in the Vedic community, including Joni Patry. To read the interview, click here. To read the other articles in this month’s magazine, click here, or the magazine copy of the interview with Ray, click here.
NOTE 6: We are pleased to announce the opening of the Academy of Financial Psychology by MMTA graduate Rita Perea! Rita is an excellent counselor, consultant, trader, and one of our MMTA mentors. In a former incarnation, she was a high school principal but has also worked for several non-profit (and profit) groups. Her goal with this new venture is to help traders and investors navigate their personal mindset in making decisions that can lead to successful outcomes in financial markets (and other aspects of one’s life). Rita will be one of the special guest speakers at the MMA 2024 Investment Retreat in Lake Bled, Slovenia, September 19-22. To learn more about Rita and her new venture, click here.
NOTE 7: The MMA Weekly YouTube show, Geocosmic Week in Review and Look Ahead, with Gianni Di Poce, is conducted on Wednesday evenings! Each 5- to 20-minute FREE episode reviews the previous week’s market activity and offers a preview of the geocosmic signatures in effect for the coming week and beyond. This week’s guest was MMA Currency analyst Ulric Aspegrén.
NOTE 8: MMA’s Free Weekly Column Podcast Is Available On SPOTIFY, APPLE, AND AMAZON! Now you can listen to a podcast of this weekly column by Thomas Miller on Saturdays! Just follow Merriman Market Analyst on Spotify or Apple to listen to all our episodes. A new podcast episode will be released every weekend. This is a FREE service and is available to everyone. Check out our podcasts on Apple, Spotify, and Amazon Music. It makes for great listening!
EVENTS
May 18, 2024: 3 PM EDT (noon PDT, 7 PM Greenwich), the Annual MMA Mid-Year Market Webinar. Hosted by Raymond Merriman, this annual mid-year event will include updates for the next several months with top MMA market analysts on the following markets: Stocks, Gold, and Bitcoin (Merriman), Crude Oil and Silver (Pouyan Zolfagharnia), T-Notes and Yen (Gianni Di Poce), Euro and U.S. Dollar (Ulric Aspegrén), Copper, (Matthieu Kaiser), and Soybeans (Wyatt Fellows). The cost is $55 and includes access to the live presentation via Zoom, the slides of the presentation, plus the video recording of the live event 24 hours after the presentation. To register, click here.
September 19–22, 2024: MMA’s 2024 Investment Retreat. Save the Dates!!! We will be hosting our 2024 Investment Retreat in Europe for the first time since 2015. You won’t want to miss this chance to meet with the top MMA analysts (plus special guest speakers Claude Weiss and Aleksandar Imsiragic) live and hear our long-term investment and wealth-building strategies using MMA market timing methods. There is nothing quite like a life-altering MMA Investment Retreat! The location is the beautiful Lake Bled in Slovenia, a premier (and affordable) destination in the Julian Alps, with a historic castle nestled in the mountains where the Saturday evening banquet will take place. The cost is $3500, but only $3000 if you register early. Registration is now open! The event will be available in person or online, but registration is limited for those who want to attend in person. Sign up early if you wish to attend in person to secure your room at the fabulous Rikli Balance Hotel, which will be the site for this event. For a brochure of the event, click here.
Disclaimer and statement of purpose: The purpose of this column is not to forecast 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 often cite 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 may affect human activity in the times to come. The author (Merriman) will do this from the 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 their potential effect on financial markets.
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 of this column assume any responsibility whatsoever for anyone’s trading or investment decisions. Readers of this report should understand that commodity futures and options trading are considered high risk.