(13 Sep 2026) Stocks ended lower last week as rising Middle East tensions pushed up oil prices over $100 and reignited inflation fears. As a result, the 10-year Treasury yield moved perilously close to the psychological threshold of 5% ahead of this week’s FOMC meeting. Most market participants are expecting a hike on Wednesday, although it is unclear if a hike has been priced into equities yet.
While last week’s pullback was not evident in the alignments we are currently tracking, it was also not incompatible with the broader direction of the market. For example, the two Jupiter-Saturn 120-degree trine aspects are still basically following their historical norms. The updated cumulative trend chart of the geocentric Jupiter-Saturn trine (exact Aug 31) has followed the mean and median lines below the benchmark average, although the decline has extended beyond the date of the exact alignment on Aug 31 which typically coincided with an interim low. This was not a robust result, however, as the sample was small (n=9) which made it harder to reach statistical significance (p<0.05). The sample was deliberately restricted to cases which replicated current conditions of the alignment, i.e. Jupiter is direct, Saturn is retrograde and the alignment was 120 degrees and not 240 degrees. If history is any guide, we would expect the current decline in this chart to reverse higher fairly soon.
The heliocentric Jupiter-Saturn trine (exact Sep 23) is also tracking the historical averages. However, this alignment is not particularly bullish as the mean and median generally rise in tandem with the long term benchmark. Its predictive value is similarly limited due to a small sample size (n=5). We should note that this alignment only deviates from default norms well after its exact alignment on Sep 23 when it becomes more bearish. Indeed, the downturn in historical averages only occurs 30 days after the alignment (i.e. after Oct 23).
The aftermath of the Aug 12 Solar Eclipse (conjunct Jupiter) shows how the DJIA has now intersected with the historical norms of previous eclipse alignments. The price increase associated with the eclipse largely manifested early on during the pre-eclipse phase and has now been subject to the merciless logic of mean reversion. Since this alignment has now completed its post-eclipse backtest period, its future influence is unknown.
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