MMA Geocosmic Market Outlook
The Merriman Market Analyst
REVIEW AND PREVIEW
The European Central Bank said it would carry on buying government bonds into next year, but in reduced monthly amounts…. The ECB signaled it was moving away from easy money, but the message was laden with caveats, and the bank left open exactly when, and how, its stimulus measures would end… The decision to reduce QE gently comes amid a rare, synchronized recovery across the world’s major economies, a result of extraordinary efforts by central banks to support growth… Tom Fairless, “ECB Trims, but Extends, Stimulus Steps,” Wall Street Journal, October 27, 2017.
Happy days are here again
The skies above are clear again
So let’s sing a song of cheer again
Happy Days are here again
Altogether shout it now
There’s no one
Who can doubt it now
Happy Days are here again
— Milton Ager and Jack Yellen, “Happy Days Are Here Again,” EMI Robbins
Catalogue/Advanced Music Corp, 1929 (note the year this song was created)
The post-Jupiter/Uranus opposition (September 27) breakout in world equity markets continued last week. It was helped on Thursday when the ECB (European Central Bank) announced it would not yet end its continuing addiction to stimulus (QE) policies, even though its economy continues to improve. The markets cheered, with the stockpile of stimulants retained for the foreseeable future. This means global liquidity is still very strong (for now). In response, several bourses soared to new all-time highs, typical in the aftermath of the Jupiter/Uranus breakout three weeks ago. Once again, this is mirroring many of the conditions present in 1929, when the song “Happy Days are Here Again” was released. You may remember from this column that 1929- 1931 was the last time Republicans controlled the Senate, House, and Presidency, and the president-elect (Herbert Hoover) was not a politician, but a successful businessman who was not loved within his own party. Yet, people thought his business-savvy experience would thrust the economy and markets to new heights – and it did, during his first year in office. Then it didn’t.
The glory days are here again, and you can read many starry-eyed commentators claim that this time is different, the good times are here to stay, and stock indices will surely double in price from even today’s lofty levels. They could be right. There are no signs on the horizon of economic or financial troubles directly ahead… unless you consider things like the FED will now end its bond and mortgage-backed securities’ buying programs, which will start to drain – not increase – liquidity in the USA. The money supply will tighten. Or that more and more Baby Boomers will continue to retire and, by law, have to liquidate (sell) 7% of their IRA portfolios every year for the rest of their lives (they are likely to become net sellers, not buyers, of equities). Or that the tax reform efforts that passed their first step toward reality this past week – and also helped cause equity markets to skyrocket – might not be passed in their final form by year end. I will have to go back and see if any tax reduction laws were passed in the balsamic phase of the Saturn/Pluto cycle before. I would not be surprised if the tax reform effort did not pass, for it is usually after the conjunction of the 32-27 year Saturn/Pluto cycle that tax reform/reduction laws are passed, not before. And that cycle doesn’t shift (reach conjunction) until January 2020.
SHORT-TERM GEOCOSMICS AND LONGER-TERM THOUGHTS
“US President Trump apparently asked a gathering of US Republican Senators to give their opinion on the next US Fed Chair by a show of hands. A majority of Senators present declined to participate, presumably feeling that decision-making in this way should end around the time one leaves kindergarten. ”
– Paul Donovan, “Nominating in an Open Outcry System,” UBS morning comment, October 25, 2017.
However, despite the warning clouds ahead that I just described, let’s continue to enjoy these good times while they last. And they could last a little while longer. The “Santa Clause” of all geocosmic signatures could arguably be Jupiter trine Neptune, which will be in a three-passage sequence starting December 2, 2017, and lasting until August 19, 2018. We are in a period of “translation” to this aspect now, because the Sun made a conjunction to Jupiter on Thursday, October 26, and it will make a trine to Neptune on Friday, November 3, thus bringing to the forefront the principles of euphoria and optimism. This is an aspect that makes one feel giddy, infatuated. It is a great time to meet and greet someone special. In terms of bull markets, it can correlate to a temporary peak (crest) in euphoria.
The Sun’s translation to the forthcoming Jupiter/Neptune trine is not the only translation taking place now. Venus is also involved in a translation to the separating Uranus/Pluto square. In fact, it makes a cardinal T-square with Pluto and Uranus, October 27-November 4. The end of this Venus translation on November 4 also coincides with the next Full Moon, so we will see a climax of the current momentum happening by then. Venus pertains to money and love, and in hard aspect to Uranus and Pluto, both these phases of life can be rocked by sudden, unexpected events or changes. So we have one aspect coinciding with love and romance, while the other speaks of sudden break ups. One aspect suggests financial gains where money comes easy, and the other alerts to the possibility of suddenly falling off a cliff financially.
This should be an interesting week. Geocosmic signatures indicate it could be a week or two reflecting the tone of Halloween – trick or treat. Children in kindergarten will probably love it as they bounce between having great fun, being undisciplined and uncontrollably happy, and then being terrified, perhaps by their own self-imagined demons. But the fright probably doesn’t last very long, for more Jupiter trine Neptune treats lies ahead into late November and early December as the holiday season gets underway. It is a great time to feel like a child, but maybe not a wise time to act like one. This is a time when primal instincts can get carried to an extreme.
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http://files.constantcontact.com/6c600f5f201/828c5f1d-42f8-488b-bd55-3c2ea6468d60.pdf