(23 August 2015)  Stock markets tanked last week as investors began to seriously ponder the possibility of a full-blown recession in China.  US stocks experienced their biggest weekly decline since 2011 with the Dow falling more than 5% to 16,459.  Most global markets shared in the near-panic although India lost a more modest 3% on the week with the BSE Sensex finishing at 27,366.  In last week’s market forecast, I thought the late week could be problematic on the Sun-Saturn square aspect.  This definitely was the case, although I did not fully expect a decline of this magnitude.  As expected, we did see some early week gains although they proved to be very fleeting. 

As I have noted previously, the summer of 2015 was bound to be difficult for most markets due to an unusual series of Saturn aspects.  These aspects began in June with the approach of the Saturn-Pluto alignment, and continued with the Saturn-Jupiter square in late July and then the Saturn-Ketu (South Node) aspect in September.  Most stock markets had held up surprisingly well through July’s Saturn-Jupiter square with comparatively few manifestations of Saturn’s typically pessimistic effects.  However, with last week’s decline, we may finally be seeing the effects of these Saturn transits hit home. 

The negative effects of these transits are also highlighted in the horoscope of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).  As I noted back in May, the Solar Return chart for the NYSE suggested a negative performance for 2015 and 2016 because of the close Sun-Saturn aspect.   I reiterated this view in July as Saturn completed its retrograde cycle at 4 Scorpio and began moving forward once again.  In so doing, it would tightly oppose the Sun at 6 Taurus in the NYSE chart.  Moreover, the aspect from Rahu to the Sun would also be very close in the late summer period and could indicate an extended period of declining markets.  I therefore suggested that August-September was more vulnerable to declines because of this combined effect of the Saturn and Rahu transits to the Sun of the NYSE. 

It’s still early days yet, but we can see that Saturn and Rahu will tighten their aspect to the Sun in the weeks ahead.  This double malefic aspect appears to be tightest in mid to late September.  So does this mean the market has further to fall?  Probably it does, but as a caveat, we should note that maximum effects do not always coincide with the closest transit angle.  While there is usually a correlation between angular proximity and maximum market effects, there are exceptions.  In the current circumstance, however, I think the overall picture suggests more declines ahead.

This week will feature a Sun-Jupiter conjunction on Tuesday and Wednesday.  This is normally a bullish pairing although it is unclear how strong it will be in this environment.  Mercury conjoins Rahu and aligns with Saturn this week so that could well offset some or all of the possible uplifting effects of Sun-Jupiter.  The Moon’s opposition to the approaching Venus-Mars conjunction on Thursday is another possible source of agitation.  The Venus-Mars conjunction becomes exact on 1st September.