(19 April 2023) US stocks have been trading in a narrow range this week as earnings reports have come in fairly mixed so far. Tesla and Netflix sold off after falling short of expectations while large banks such as JP Morgan beat earnings estimates and provided more lift for the market. Since forming interim lows in mid-March, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 have rallied to a point where they have almost recaptured their early February highs.
The rest of this week could prove to be more interesting given tomorrow’s solar eclipse and Friday’s Mercury retrograde station. Both celestial events are broadly associated with volatility, even if the fallout is sometimes not immediate. The solar eclipse occurs at 5 degrees of sidereal Aries and sets up a tense-looking square aspect with Pluto. Even if the imminent Jupiter sign change from Pisces to Aries could mitigate some of this tension, there is good reason to be cautious here.
Mercury retrograde stations also tend to be bearish although this one is perhaps more uncertain. Mercury conjoins Uranus within two degrees on Friday which could amplify sentiment in either direction. Since the Mercury-Uranus energy is often quick and fast-changing, markets could be see several moves in both directions around the time of Friday’s station. As Mercury retrogrades go, this one looks less bearish than some. That said, I also would be reluctant to forecast a bullish reaction on Friday.
Another way to examine the possible impacts of these events is to view them in relation to a pertinent natal chart. The NASDAQ horoscope (Feb 8, 1971) is often useful in these situations as it is one of the main US indexes and can be seen as a proxy for the whole market. We can see that the solar eclipse will align closely with the Ascendant at 8 Aries. On Thursday, the Sun will be just three degrees short of the Ascendant, while Rahu (North Lunar Node) is two degrees from exact. This looks like a fairly powerful set up.
Mercury turns retrograde at 21 Aries, just one degree from the natal Saturn (22 Aries). This is a more negative combination, although the tight conjunction with Uranus again introduces a wild card element. Nonetheless, this configuration does not offer strong confirmatory evidence for more upside as there is just too much uncertainty.
We can also see that transiting Saturn (10 Aquarius) aspects the Ascendant and Rahu by 3rd house aspect, while squaring the Jupiter-Neptune conjunction in the 8th house. Saturn in the 11th in its own sign can be bullish, but the square aspect to Jupiter looks more difficult. And Saturn’s 3rd house aspect to Rahu crossing the Ascendant also looks like an excess of malefic influences.
And even if we get a one-day rally with the entry of Jupiter into Aries, the aspect from natal Ketu (0 Leo) to Jupiter in the coming days looks more difficult as nodal aspects to Jupiter can undermine Jupiter’s default bullish energy.
Overall, it is hard to be bullish in the near term given this chart.
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Photo Credit: Wolfram Burner
