(27 March 2018) Stocks fell hard again today as technology companies were sold on renewed privacy concerns following the Facebook data debacle.   The Nasdaq led the broader markets lower falling 3% to 7008 while the Dow slipped back under 24,000.  The decline comes a day after a sharp rally following the announcement of US-China trade talks.  But it seems that last year’s unstoppable Trump rally has been replaced with a new and more volatile market in 2018 that is more sensitive to bad news. 

It seems likely that stocks will revisit their early February lows fairly soon.  Last Friday’s decline more or less matched the low on the Dow, while other indexes remained slightly above their Feb 9th bottom.  But can the stock market resume its upward climb once this correction is over?  It’s difficult to say definitively using astrology alone since estimating the magnitude of price moves is quite speculative.  Astrology is better suited for highlighting time periods of positive, negative or mixed influences.  In that sense, time is the primary variable in financial astrology. 

So when will stocks rebound?  A look at the horoscope of the tech-heavy Nasdaq stock exchange provides some useful clues.  As I have written in previous market forecasts, the February swoon occurred just as Mars and Saturn had aligned with the Ascendant in this chart.  To be sure, there were many other confirming alignments at other levels in the chart as well as in other financial charts.  But the Mars-Saturn pairing is very bearish when aligned with key points in the chart such as the Sun, Moon or Ascendant. 

Now Saturn (14 Sagittarius) has moved away a few degrees but it remains a potentially negative influence when activated by another planet.  This was the case today as Mars (11 Sagittarius) approached its conjunction while in a close square aspect with the Sun (13 Pisces).   This three-planet alignment is very bearish and will be within range for all of this week.  It is worth remembering that the alignment isn’t closely aspecting any sensitive point in the chart at this time.  These transiting alignments can have effects even when they are not aspecting significant natal chart points.  The alignments are often weaker in that instance and that is one reason why stocks rallied yesterday.   There was also a bullish pattern in place both in the current sky and with respect to the natal Nasdaq chart as Venus entered sidereal Aries and approached its conjunction with Uranus.  It also entered the 1st house in the Nasdaq chart and aligned with the South Lunar Node Ketu (0 Leo) in the Nasdaq chart which is usually bullish. 

The other ongoing source of tension in the chart is that the North Lunar Node (Rahu) is closely aspecting Mars (17 Scorpio).  Rahu-Mars alignments tend to be negative since both planets are natural malefics.  Using the Mean Node, Rahu is at 18 Cancer while the True Node is 19 Cancer.  Either way, it’s close enough to be effective and is another key reason for this period of renewed pessimism in stocks here in late March.

Forecast

Could stocks soon rally off these levels?  Well, it’s certainly possible but the planetary alignments do not look especially bullish in the near term.  The rest of this week may see more up and down trading as bullish Venus conjoins Uranus (exact Wednesday) but the Sun will remain in square aspect with Mars and Saturn.  Moreover, retrograde Mercury (21 Pisces) is now approaching its own difficult alignment with Rahu (18 Cancer).  This will be exact over the weekend but I suspect it is in play already.  It is important to note that the Mercury-Rahu aspect reinforces the negative influence of Mars through the Rahu-Mars aspect.  This is likely to keep stocks under pressure this week and most likely into next week. 

Rahu will remain in aspect with natal Mars next week while Mercury forms a square alignment with Mars and Saturn.  This is a very tense configuration that seems unlikely to bring about much upside.  In fact, it looks like a bearish pattern that will coincide with further declines.  Mars and Saturn are due to exactly conjoin on Monday, April 2 although their bearish influence need not be strongest on the precise day of their alignment.

The bottom line here is that investors may have to be patient for the next big rally to take place.  It seems more likely that the Feb 9th lows will not only be matched (i.e. "tested") but that stocks could well fall further in the first half of April.   I go into greater detail about possible scenarios for the stock market in the coming months in my investor newsletter.