(19 July 2015) Stock markets breathed a sigh of relief last week after a late night bailout deal was finally reached between the EU and Greece.  While financial chaos was averted, the distrust and enmity in the Eurozone is now plain to see.  The EU has lost its innocence and may well be on its way to a more profound shake-up as a growing number of countries no longer want to subsidize a bankrupt Greece.  Global stocks rallied on the news of Monday’s deal, but other financial markets took a more negative long term view. The Euro itself fell further as currency traders pondered the viability of the monetary union in the long run.  Gold also fell through a key support level as investors preferred the US Dollar as a safe haven.  

In last week’s stock market forecast, I thought we might have seen more declines in stocks as the midweek alignment of Mercury-Mars-Pluto looked troublesome.  The early week entry of Jupiter into sidereal Leo was bullish as I thought it might be, and this reflected the optimism of Monday’s overnight deal.  The collective fallout of Mercury-Mars-Pluto was perhaps better reflected in the assertion of Germany’s power and the lingering ill will that the agreement generated.  Nobody liked the deal but it seems there was no real alternative.  As I noted previously, we could see more EU-related problems flare up again around the Mars-Uranus square around 25th July.

While gold’s decline was not particularly huge (it fell almost 3% on the week), it was more important for its technical implications for the market since it broke support at $1140.  This is the lowest price for gold since 2010.  I had warned of significant declines for gold at this time in my subscriber newsletter due to a series of difficult aspects.  In the 1974 gold chart (dated for the beginning of public trading in the US), we can see that Friday’s transit of Mars and Mercury lined up almost exactly with the Saturn (22 Gemini) in this horoscope.  With Pluto (20 Sagittarius) anchoring the other side of this axis, the alignment to the Saturn and Mercury opposition in the gold chart was activated quite forcefully.  Saturn is the bearish planet par excellence, and Mars also tends to be negative in its market effects.  This was therefore a clearly recognizable pattern for a decline.

The other problem with gold is that the transit picture is now dominated by Saturn.  Jupiter and Venus are both in the sign of Leo now and in most instances that should be positive for gold prices since Leo (ruled by the royal Sun) is generally a friendly sign for precious metals.  But any potential optimism is negated because Saturn forms a square aspect to both Jupiter and Venus.  Saturn exactly squared Venus last week and that was likely another factor in the weakness in the gold market. Venus will station retrograde on the 25th and will then move back into a difficult square aspect with Saturn in early August.  Jupiter is also moving closer to forming a square with Saturn which is exact in the first week of August.  And the impact of Saturn is further heightened since the ringed-planet itself is due to station and turn direct on August 2nd.  The combined effects of these patterns suggest that gold is likely to fall further in the coming days.  To be sure, the technical outlook for gold is similarly negative now that it has fallen to new lows.  But the takeaway here is that the astrological indications offer confirmation for that bearish view.  Gold may enjoy a temporary revival once Jupiter has moved past its aspect with Saturn after August 3rd.

Weekly Market Update

This week is a mixed bag.  Saturn aligns with the Sun and Mercury early in the week so that could coincide with some declines.  But then Mercury aligns with Venus and the Sun on Thursday which ought to boost optimism and produce some upside for stocks.  Friday is a bit of a question mark, however, as Mars moves to within one degree of a very unstable aspect with Uranus.  Uranus is due to station retrograde on the 26th anyway, but this Mars influence looks volatile.  Expect the unexpected.