MMA FREE WEEKLY COLUMN FOR THE WEEK BEGINNING FEBRUARY 3, 2025

REVIEW

 President Trump’s self-imposed Feb. 1 deadline for a first round of tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China looms in just hours as economic observers and world leaders try to plan amid the uncertainty. On Thursday afternoon, Trump reiterated his plans to put a 25% tariff on imports from Mexico and Canada. But even then, he added to the uncertainty by saying some provisions — specifically those around oil — remain undecided.

—Ben Werschkul, “Markets (and the World) on Edge as Trump’s Tariff Deadline Approaches,” Yahoo Finance, January 31, 2025.

“We are going to require a commitment from these seemingly hostile Countries that they will neither create a new BRICS Currency, nor back any other Currency to replace the mighty U.S. Dollar, or, they will face 100% Tariffs. They can go find another sucker Nation.”

—Donald Trump, quoted by Alex Nitzberg, “Trump Reasserts Towering 100% Tariff Threat Against BRICS Countries,” www.foxbusiness.com, January 31, 2025.

Stocks rose in early 2025, even as fears over tariffs, rates, and China’s surprise AI win took turns rattling investors.

—Ryan Dezember, “Markets End January Higher, and With One More Speed Bump,” www.wsj.com, January 31, 2025.

Typical of a New Moon in Aquarius and its ruler Uranus changing direction, many global stock indices and Gold rallied late last week, then suddenly reversed on Friday. Both Aquarius and its ruler, Uranus, are known to exhibit dynamics of suddenness and disruption, often under the guise of brilliance and “thinking outside of the  box.”

The cause of the rallies and sudden reversals in global equity and Gold markets is likely in anticipation of new taxes (tariffs) about to be imposed on the world by the leadership of the United States on Saturday, February 1. In addition to actually creating a new tax on the consumers, this highly anticipated executive order also has the potential to disrupt distribution networks and supply chains involving world trade and, hence, result in higher prices (inflationary). On the positive side, this initiative also has the potential to level the world trade playing field, where the U.S. pays considerably more in tariffs to receive goods produced in other nations than it receives from goods exported. So there are two sides to this issue: one is “fairness” in trade, and the other is the economic consequences (disruption of trade routes and probably increase in inflation). How to manage both with balance is the challenge.

One way to counter the inflationary potential of an increase in tariffs is to increase the supply of goods produced domestically, thus prodding producers to lower prices to maintain market share. Can that be achieved? This seems to be the rationale for supporting this pending executive order. With Jupiter (world trade) square to Saturn (depressed, reduced, constrained), it seems probable that world trade will go through a challenging time this year, and stock markets may suddenly recognize this.

Nevertheless, stock markets were chaotic last week (as they have been all of this New Year), but mostly up. Yet, there remain to be many examples of continuing bearish divergence. In Asia and the Pacific Rim, the ASX of Australia made a new all-time high on Friday, whereas India’s NIFTY Indexes fell to a new 7-month low early last week.

In Europe, the German DAX and London FTSE indices also made new all-time highs, while the Netherlands AEX and Zurich SMI also enjoyed strong rallies to new multi-month highs.

In the Americas, the Bovespa of Brazil rallied strongly into early Friday but then sold off and closed down 777 points. That same pattern unfolded in the U.S., where the major stock indices were up nicely all week, testing all-time highs early on Friday but then selling off sharply by the close. The DJIA, for instance, came within 20 points of its all-time high but then closed down 337 points. Intermarket bearish divergence continues to be present from the prior week’s all-time high in the S&P that was not matched (yet) in the NASDAQ or DJIA.

Gold soared to a new all-time high of 2853 in the nearby April contract and sold off late Friday. Silver, too, had a healthy rally, rising to 32.92 on Friday before selling off 70 cents into the close. Bitcoin attempted to make a new all-time high but fell short at 106,440 on Thursday before dropping nearly $5000 on Friday’s low. Crude Oil continued to fall all week, reaching a low of 72.02 on Friday. The prior week, it was testing 80.00.

SHORT-TERM GEOCOSMICS AND LONGER-TERM THOUGHTS

The Trump administration rescinded its memo calling for federal agencies to pause potentially trillions of dollars in federal grants, loans, and other financial-assistance programs, a day after a federal judge temporarily blocked the directive that had sowed widespread confusion. The White House on Wednesday issued a memo to federal employees scrapping its original memorandum.

—Natalie Andrews, Liz Essley Whyte, and Michelle Hackman, “White House Rescinds Order to Freeze Assistance, Grants: Trump Team’s Memo Prompted Chaos,” Wall Street Journal, January 30, 2025.

Who saw that coming? Not Wall Street, which sold off tech stocks on Monday after the weekend news that a highly sophisticated Chinese AI model, DeepSeek, rivals Big Tech-built systems but cost a fraction to develop. The implications are likely to be far-reaching, and not merely in equities….The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 3.1%, driven by a 16.9% dive in Nvidia shares. Nvidia dominates the market in advanced AI chips.

—The Editorial Board, Review & Outlook, “The DeepSeek AI Freakout,” Wall Street Journal, January 27, 2025.

The “retrograde chaos” described in these recent columns and last week’s micro-webinar on “What the !@#$%^& Is Happening” was in full form last week. That is the “start-go-restart-stop again” nature of all three personal planets (Mercury, Mars, Venus, then Mercury again) going retrograde, back-to-back, between November 25, 2024, and April 12, 2025. Initiatives like new tariffs and government funding freezes start with great gusto without sufficient information or oversight, then pulled back and were either revised, tried again, or discarded altogether. The result is chaos and confusion. Such a cosmic “retrograde chaos” climate is a time to work out ideas and strategies for their eventual successful implantation. It is not the time to shoot first and then figure out what you are aiming for.

Another example of “starting then pausing” may be about to take place in the financial world of Sam Altman. He is on the verge of securing a $500 billion commitment to build Open AI’s data center empire called StarGate. But then, suddenly (Uranus again, plus “retrograde chaos”) comes the announcement that a new Chinese company is releasing its advanced version of AI called DeepSeek, which is only a fraction of the cost of StarGate. Based on the transits to Altman’s natal chart (born April 25, 1985), things might not go quite the way he thinks or wishes.

First off, transiting Pluto in early Aquarius will be forming a waning square to Altman’s natal Sun at 2° Taurus. Pluto, in a hard aspect to a personal planet, indicates power plays, and if not handled just right, it often results in a loss of power. As stated several times in this column, no one escapes a hard Pluto transit unscathed without a “surrender” of sorts. Trump had it in the 2020 Election that he lost (and refused to concede), and Biden had it in the 2024 election, which he claims he would have won had he not been “forced” to withdraw by his own party.

It doesn’t end there. Altman also has a natal Mars/Saturn opposition at 26-27° of Taurus and Scorpio, respectively, with the Moon also around that degree in late Taurus (depending on his time of birth). Transiting Uranus is in late Taurus throughout much of this year (conjunct his Mars/Moon, opposite his Saturn). This is not an indicator of one who succeeds by being rigid and not making adjustments as required. More often, Uranus transits to Saturn can be very disruptive to one’s plans and authority in management. This aspect often (but not always) leads to the subject being “fired” by an employer, or a board of directors, rebelled against by one’s employees, or even encountering problems with the government and its laws/rules.

Interestingly enough, we see similar Uranus transits to the charts of Jensen Huang (February 17, 1968) and Nvidia, the company he runs (founded April 5, 1999). Huang has his Sun at 27° Aquarius. Nvidia has its Saturn there, squared by natal Pluto at 25° Scorpio (another power play). Uranus is challenging both in a T-square. This transformational period in the life of Huang and Nvidia was pointed out in a May 2024 interview with Radio Tokyo. Nvidia is in the midst of a wild ride in 2025, and you have to wonder if Altman and Stargate AI are in store for a similar wild ride. Neither of these gentlemen’s plans is likely to materialize as they expect. Both may find themselves in very different situations (perhaps against their will) by the end of the year unless they understand how to integrate these principles well. Uranus involves not being overly disruptive and doing what you said you would do without breaking the rules. Surprising others by suddenly shifting directions is not advised. Saturn involves integrity and honesty. With the opposition, it may be that they see others they have to deal with as lacking in these qualities, which disrupts their plans. With Uranus and Saturn, it is usually a case of someone violating a promise or agreement that can lead to changes that threaten the stability of the enterprise.

This is going to be an interesting and perhaps very volatile year for tech companies throughout the world.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

NOTE 1: LAST CHANCE TO GET THE SPECIAL “FLASH DISCOUNT” RATE PROVIDED FOR MMA READERS TO ATTEND THE MARCH 7-9, 2025, COSMIC PATTERNS ASTROLOGY CONFERENCE IN ORLANDO, FLORIDA, FEATURING MMA MARKET ANALYSTS ON A SPECIAL FINANCIAL TRACK!!! This discount is available exclusively to MMA readers from January 24 to February 2, 2025, and is not retroactive. Grab this while you can!

To take advantage of this special “Flash 10% Discount Rate” on the conference AND Ray Merriman’s pre-conference workshop covering financial market timing, call +1-352-373-1504 or click here. The discount code for Ray Merriman’s Pre-Conference Workshop is RMPRE10CONFIN. The discount code for the main conference is RMMAIN10CONV. After you complete the form, make sure to include the discount codes in the “STD CODE” box. NOTE: The regular amount will be shown, but your credit card will not be charged automatically. They will charge it once your registration is confirmed and finalized. Their department will respond within 24 to 48 hours after they receive your order.

To book a room at The Florida Hotel & Conference Center, where the event takes place, click here.

The Financial Track will include Raymond Merriman (USA), Christeen Skinner (UK), Gianni Di Poce (USA), Wiebke Held (Germany), Pouyan Zolfagharnia (UK), and Ulric Aspegrén (Switzerland). For more information on the event itself and speakers’ topics and bios, click here. Looking forward to seeing many of you there!

NOTE 2: MMA’s Annual Forecast 2025 Worldwide Webinar with Raymond Merriman. Sunday, February 16, 2025, Noon EST. From the comfort of your own home or office, you can tune in to Raymond Merriman’s annual worldwide Forecast 2025 Webinar. This broadcast will address the theme from this year’s Forecast 2025 book, with special updates on financial markets since the book was written in November 2024. This presentation will include trading plans for the DJIA, Gold, Silver, Bitcoin, Inflation, and Interest Rates. A special guest will be Wiebke Held of Cologne, Germany, a top MMTA graduate and editor of the new MMA Tech Cycles Report, who will give her outlook on the NASDAQ using the MMA timing methodology. If you are unable to attend live, a video recording will be available the following day. The cost is $60 for this special three-hour webinar. Registration for the Forecast 2025 Webinar is now open. Save the date! Sign up now!

NOTE 3: GET READY! The NEW monthly MMA Technology Cycles Report will launch on February 18!!! This new monthly report will be written by top MMTA graduate Wiebke Held of Cologne, Germany, whose excellent two-year research papers were based on extensive studies of long-, intermediate-, and short-term cycles in the NASDAQ spot index (not futures). This report will differ in style and substance from the other MMA monthly reports (it is more condensed and less technical). It will provide an outlook not only for the NASDAQ but also for the QQQ (ETF) and specific technology stocks such as NVIDIA and Apple. It will also include unique CRDs (critical reversal dates) specific to the NASDAQ, based on Held’s meticulous research. Focusing on the NASDAQ is crucial because of the outsized role technology will play in financial markets — especially with Pluto already in Aquarius for the next 20 years and Uranus about to enter Gemini for seven years starting in July 2025. Additionally, much of this report will be generated by Wiebke’s own AI applications. Truly, this will be an exciting report, highlighting many new features of our technology renaissance. This is the future of market timing applications in this “New Aira.”

The first edition of the report will be issued complimentary to anyone on the mailing list of this free weekly column or to those who sign up for the February 16 MMA annual webinar on Forecast 2025. If you want to receive the FREE first issue of this new report, sign up for this weekly distribution list now at https://www.mmacycles.com/free-weekly-forecast/!

NOTE 4: THE JANUARY ISSUE OF THE MMA Monthly Cycles Report Plus+, edited by Pouyan Zolfagharnia, was issued last week. This market letter has become a very popular addition to the MMA Cycles Report (it is less technical and more visual and contains horoscopes of current importance, high-quality analysis, and updates on MMA Cycles Report markets). The mid-month addendum to the MMA Cycles Report covers Pouyan’s outlook on Gold, Silver, the NASDAQ, and Crude Oil. It has stunning graphics and charts (people love it!) and is very readable. It contains more illustrations and references to geocosmics than most MMA Cycles reports and is available by subscription only to those who also subscribe to the MMA Monthly Cycles Report. If you wish to try this month’s addendum, along with the latest issue of the MMA Monthly Cycles Report, sign up online at the link above. A subscription for a monthly copy of both reports is $55. That will give you both the most recent copy of the MMA Cycles Report and the monthly MMA Cycles Report Plus+ addendum issued last week. For further information and ordering instructions, please click here.

NOTE 5: THE “JUPITER REPORT” — YOUR MOMENTS OF OPPORTUNITY — IS ALSO NOW AVAILABLE. This newest product is written by Raymond Merriman. It is a 30- to 40-page report that all traders (and even non-traders) will find highly valuable. It identifies the times during the year when Jupiter transits are highlighted in your natal chart. It delineates the meaning of Jupiter’s transits to your natal planets and angles over a 14-month period (including one month before your order and one month after the year ends). As an added bonus, each transit is ranked on a scale from –3 to +3 in terms of favorability for trading. Traders may find this most valuable! Would you like to know when you are under a +3 transit and, therefore, most likely to experience trading successes? Or a –3 transit with stronger-than-usual potential for misjudgments and losses? You betcha! The cost for your 14-month Jupiter Report is $69. Click here to order!!!

NOTE 6: THE MMA Solar-Lunar App now offers reversal signals on the NASDAQ to all subscribers! The app now provides daily weighted values for four markets: the DJIA, NASDAQ, Gold, and Silver.

This app is an ideal tool to have in your back pocket if you are a short-term swing trader looking for high-probability dates that identify isolated lows and highs in the DJIA, NASDAQ, Gold, and Silver markets. It is available only on Apple products (iPhone and iPad) at this time, although we are getting close to developing it for Android phones, too, possibly by the end of this year.

To learn more about the MMA App, click here. To order it, go to the Apple App Store and type in Merriman Solar/Lunar Reversals.

 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.

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! Thomas has an excellent voice and brings the weekly column to life in a personable and, at times, humorous fashion. 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!

NOTE 9: FORECAST 2025 IS NOW AVAILABLE in paperback, eBook, and audiobook!!!

MMA’s annual Forecast book is the standard of astrological-themed almanacs that has served students of cycles and markets since 1976. It provides a cyclical outlook on collective world psychology, the national economy, geopolitical overview, socio-cultural trends, weather and natural calamity potential, as well as financial market projections for the U.S. stock market, U.S. Treasury market, interest rates, Gold and Silver, currencies (the Euro, U.S. Dollar, Swiss Franc, and Japanese Yen), Bitcoin, Crude Oil, and Grain markets. Additionally, it provides the three-star critical reversal dates for each market for 2025, which have historically achieved over 80% accuracy for trading cycles within an orb of three trading days.

The printed book is 200 pages, 8.5″ x 11″, and costs $66, but copies are limited. There are no second printings. When they are out, they are out. The eBook version is available for $55 and has no limit. The Forecast 2025 Audiobook is also now available for $29.99, has no limit, and can be ordered by clicking here. This audio version will not include the financial markets nor the ephemeris and geocosmic calendar for each month, which are included in the print and eBook versions. It covers only the first part of the book. The audio version is an excellent companion for workouts or driving, allowing you to listen at your convenience.

MMA also offers a special “bundle” discount rate for those who wish to order both the eBook and printed editions of Forecast 2025 for $86.

To order Forecast 2025 now, please click here.

EVENTS

We have a big year lined up with several exciting events. Save the dates!

FEBRUARY 16, 2025: MMA’s Annual Forecast 2025 Worldwide Webinar with Raymond Merriman. It starts at noon EST. From the comfort of your own home or office, you can tune in to Raymond Merriman’s annual worldwide Forecast 2025 Webinar. This broadcast will address the theme from this year’s Forecast 2025 book, with updates on financial markets since the book was written in November 2024. This presentation will include trading plans for various financial markets based on the possibility of big moves related to the powerful geocosmic signature of mid-June 2025. A special guest will be Wiebke Held of Cologne, Germany, a top MMTA graduate and editor of the new MMA Tech Cycles Report. She will provide her outlook on the NASDAQ using the MMA timing methodology. If you are unable to attend live, a video recording will be available the following day. The cost is $60 for this special three-hour webinar. Registration for the Forecast 2025 Webinar is now open. Save the date — sign up now!

MARCH 7-9, 2025: NOTE THAT THE SPECIAL ONE-WEEK FLASH SALE ON THIS EVENT ENDS THIS MONDAY! Cosmic Patterns Inc. presents its “Convergence 2025” conference in Orlando, Florida. This will be one of the top astrological conferences of 2025 and will include a track on Research and Financial Markets. MMA market analysts Ray Merriman, Gianni Di Poce, Pouyan Zolfagharnia, Ulric Aspegrén, and Wiebke Held will speak, along with well-known financial astrologer Christeen Skinner from the U.K. There will also be several other well-known professional astrologers speaking, including Lynn Bell, Charlotte Benson, Georgia Stathis, Öner Döşer, Pam Gallagher, Demetra George, Aleksandar Imsiragic, Dr. Lea Imsiragic, Rick Levine, Darri Low Murphy, Anne Ortelee, Joni Patry, Kathy Rose, Gisele Terry, and Fei Cochrane. For further information, please go to https://cosmicpatternsconference.com/. You can also hear and read about this exciting gathering on YouTube (click here). NOTE: You can save $45-55 by registering this week during a special “Flash Discount Window” secured for MMA readers. See details in Announcements above!

AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2025 (exact beginning dates to be decided shortly): MMTA4 will begin! Plan ahead!

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 of educating the reader on the relationship between astrological factors and collective human activities as they occur. 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 those movements 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, 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.