Stocks fall on Spanish corruption scandal; Is the rally over?

(5 February 2013) US Stocks extended their rally for another week as the current earnings season continued to inspire confidence. The Dow cracked the 14,000 level for the first time since 2007 finishing up 1% at 14,009. Indian stocks slipped a bit, however, as worries over Bharti weighed on sentiment. The Sensex lost 1% closing at 19,871. I had been fairly open-ended in last week’s forecast as there was a blending of energies, both positive and negative. I thought that we might see early week gains on the Venus entry into Capricorn and that largely came to pass with mostly positive outcomes across Monday and Tuesday. I also expected some late week declines on the Mercury-Rahu aspect but that only appeared to manifest on the Indian market. US stocks remained mostly strong.

The generally positive condition of the markets here is still a reasonable reflection of the ongoing strength of Jupiter. Although we are now of the wrong side of the Jupiter direct station (30 January), Jupiter is still dominant due to its close aspect with Uranus. This means that optimism and risk-taking will likely continue to manifest for the next little while. Jupiter makes its closest angle with Uranus on 12-14 February so we may look at that time as one potential turning point. Although this is theoretically the closest angle, the correlation between planetary geometry and market behaviour is rarely 100%. For that reason, we need to be sensitive to a margin of error and other planetary factors that may affect the markets in the near term.

As noted previously, Saturn is due to enter the limelight soon, as it begins its four-month long retrograde cycle on 18 February. It is quite possible that this development could alter the collective mood although here again, we need to be sensitive to the short term aspects in play.

This week has begun on a mostly down note, as worries over European political stability worries have re-emerged. Not suprisingly, Monday’s pullback occurred on a day when bearish Mars was square the Moon and conjunct Neptune. Neptune, of course, is a planet that is associated with deception and deceit. Indeed, I noted in this week’s subscriber newsletter that declines were more likely on Monday and Tuesday on this Moon-Mars-Neptune planetary configuration. So is this the end of the big rally and start of a major pullback? We cannot rule anything out, but I would guess that the Venus-Jupiter aspect on Wednesday and Thursday would likely see a return to confidence and optimism. I would therefore expect some significant gains to accrue later in the week.