Obama rules out trillion dollar coin solution to debt ceiling; markets stay firm

(13 January 2013) Stocks rose in the US last week on positive earnings outlooks and more favourable economic data. The Dow climbed less than 1% closing at 13,488. Indian stocks dipped a bit as the Sensex finished the week at 19,663. The week unfolded more or less as expected as the early week Mars-Saturn aspect coincided closely with losses, although they were fairly modest. Gains were more forthcoming later in the week and appeared to correspond with Thursday’s Moon-Venus conjunction, although Indian stocks resisted this more general up trend.

With the debt ceiling debate looming in February, the Obama White House officially ruled out the possibility that it might mint a $1 Trillion coin as a means of avoiding the negotiations with House Republicans. The proposal had been floated by some observers sympathetic to Obama as a way of raising the debt limit without having to go through the usual procedure of seeking approval from Congress. So the debate and possible financial uncertainty may still lie in the near future. The last such debate caused a significant decline in the stock market in the summer of 2011 as the Republicans were threatening to push the US to default on its debt obligations.

The USA horoscope suggests there there may well be some significant tension in February, although it is unclear if this will be surrounding the debt ceiling. The Mars-Neptune conjunction lines up very closely with the natal Moon in this chart and points to situations of animosity and conflict with a dose of confusion and possible deceit thrown in for good measure. While one can imagine that this planetary pattern could correlate with some uncertainty in the stock market, it does not seem like a long-lasting situation. There is a relative absence of slow moving transits in play here. If it was going to be a serious stalemate along the lines that we saw in 2011, one would expect more participation from Saturn or the nodes, Rahu and Ketu. But we don’t see that here. We do have that opposition aspect from Pluto to Jupiter. That combination suggests power plays and manipulation but Jupiter is more closely symbolic of the judicial branch rather than the executive or legislative branches of government so I’m not convinced we will see a major problem emerge over the debt ceiling. It’s still but the afflictions in the USA chart don’t look particularly grievous.

This week offers a range of planetary aspects, both good and bad. Monday starts off with a fairly positive looking arrangement between the Moon, Venus and Jupiter, with Uranus and Chiron thrown in for good measure. However, the Sun comes under the exact aspect of Ketu and that could cause some problems. It still looks positive overall although we may put an asterisk beside it. By midweek, Venus conjoins Pluto and this could well produce more gains. Here again, Ketu is a complicating factor as it is due to aspect Mercury so may introduce some turbulence. The late week may be less positive as the Sun conjoins Mercury on Thursday and Friday.