Market Preview for the week beginning July 11, 2022

Market preview is written by Raymond Merriman and goes to Members by email for free.

Review and Preview

Job growth accelerated at a much faster pace than expected in June. Nonfarm payrolls increased 372,000 in the month, better than the 250,000 Dow Jones estimate. The unemployment rate was 3.6%, unchanged from May and in line with estimates. June’s gains marked a slight deceleration from the downwardly revised 384,000 in May. April’s count was revised down to 368,000. “The strong 372,000 gain in non-farm payrolls in June appears to make a mockery of claims the economy is heading into, let alone already in, a recession,” said Andrew Hunter, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics. – Jeff Cox, “Payroll Increased 372,000 in June, More Than Expected, as Jobs Market Defies Recession Fear,” www.cnbc.com, July 8, 2022.

The gains (in payroll) come despite an inflation rate running at the fastest pace since the early 1980s. To combat rising inflation, the Fed has instituted a series of interest rate hikes aimed at slowing the economy without causing a recession. However, recent indicators show that growth has cooled considerably… Bank of America credit and debit card data shows spending among the sector fell 1% year over year as of June 30, a potentially ominous sign for an economy that draws more than two-thirds of its growth from consumers. Gross domestic product contracted 1.6% in the first quarter and is on pace to decline 1.9% in the second quarter, meeting the common definition of a recession. – Jeff Cox, “Recession Watch,” www.cnbc.com, July 8, 2022.

It really is a struggle between the bulls and bears with global stock markets right now. The chart pattern is still bearish in many indices like the DJIA and S&P with lower highs and lower lows of each trading cycle since the all-time high of January 5, except for the token new high in the DJIA on April 21 that was not matched in either the NASDAQ or the S&P. However, the NASDAQ took out its recent high (June 28) on Friday, July 8, while the other two U.S. indices did not (yet). This same case of intermarket divergence is unfolding in other regions, too, since the possible intermediate-term cycle low that occurred on June 17, when Venus squared Saturn, is still holding in most indices.

In Asia and the Pacific Rim, the Shanghai Composite and India’s Nifty Index were stellar last week. The SSE soared to 3424 on July 4, its highest level since March 7, and meeting our minimum target given in our recent June 23 webinar on Chinese markets. The NIFTY rallied to 16,275 on Friday, July 8, its highest mark since June 10. But the Australian ASX, Hang Seng of Hong Kong, and Japanese Nikkei indices followed the same course as the U.S. That is, each rallied to a recent high on June 28 when the New Moon squared Jupiter and Neptune turned retrograde (our last official geocosmic critical reversal date). Each then pulled back 2-4 days and resumed their rallies into Friday, July 8, but failed to exceed the highs of June 28, except in the case of the SSE, NIFTY, SMI, and NASDAQ.

European indices exhibited great variance over the past two weeks. The German DAX, for instance, fell to a new 21-month low on July 5 before the end-of-week rally. The FTSE never regained its footing as Prime Minster Boris Johnson was forced to resign amidst a huge (typically British) scandal, which reflected the station of Neptune on June 28. The AEX has had a nice rally into Friday, July 8, but fell slightly short of its June 28 high. Only the Zurich SMI posted a new cycle high on Friday.

The pattern of most indices was very consistent with our lunar calls. Each passed two important lunar cycle tests since the important low of June 17 as covered in our daily reports and daily tweets (Twitter). BTW, I am enjoying my new-found voice with Twitter where I can guide our weekly and daily subscribers during each trading day. If you don’t follow us on Twitter or the daily reports, you are missing out on some exceptionally valuable posts (https://twitter.com/mmacycles) that help to monitor our daily and weekly outlooks.

Other markets were even more stunning than stocks last week. The U.S. Dollar rose to its highest level since October 2002, while the Euro currency fell close to par, its lowest mark since December 2002. Gold broke the critical 1750-1785 level, which is discussed in this week’s MMA YouTube interview with Gianni di Poce (see Announcements below – it’s free). Silver plunged to a low of 18.70, a level not seen in two years.

Shorter-term Geocosmics and Longer-term Thoughts

In the book, you say there are two types of leaders: statesmen and prophets. Could you explain the difference?
Statesmen leaders analyze the realities of the existing situation and want to achieve the maximum possible within them, balancing vision against risk and keeping in mind that history lasts longer than the passion of the moment. Prophets, as I conceive them, do not accept this distinction. They believe that their values must be implemented as quickly as is possible, and that the quality of the values determines the significance of their political role. The prophetic view is often the more elevated view and certainly the more passionate view and it may achieve great historic transformations, but it does not make allowances for the scale of human suffering and for the capability of any one generation to adapt to fundamental change. – Henry Kissinger, “The Internet Does Not Make Great Leaders,” https://time.com, July 3, 2022.

In the seventh month of 1999, Nostradamus predicted, a great king of terror would descend on the world. One of Nostradamus's most famous prophecies strikes right within… the year one thousand nine ninety-nine seven month. “From the sky shall come a great King of terror.”– Everett Bleiler, “Nostradamus,” The Washington Post, September 12, 1999.

The behavior of the stock market since the Jupiter/Saturn conjunction of December 20, 2020 is very similar to the pattern of the previous time these two planets conjoined in 2000. In fact, in late 1999-early 2000, Jupiter and Saturn conjoined in Taurus, square to Uranus in Aquarius. In late 2020 through 2021, Jupiter and Saturn again conjoined, this time in Aquarius, square to Uranus in Taurus. It was exactly the opposite setup involving signs between Jupiter/Saturn to Uranus. That is, the first was a waxing square that ended in early 2000, and the latter was a waning square that ended in December 2021. But the behavior of stock markets was also almost identical. In early 2000, as the last passage of the square to Uranus ended, stock indices made their all-time high, and began a 2-year decline into October 2002.

Interestingly enough, the low of October 2002 was within just a couple of days of the first passage of the Jupiter semi-square Saturn (October 13, 2002-July 9, 2003). This is the first 1/8 phase of the cycle, a sub-cycle I have often referred to as the “choice to continue or abort,” which is interesting given the recent Supreme Court decision on the right to abortion.

Now we are approaching again the first semi-square of Jupiter/Saturn since their conjunction of December 2020 and square of Saturn/Uranus in December 2021. In early 2022, just one month after the final Saturn/Uranus square ended, stocks have embarked upon a sharp decline just as they did following similar aspects in early 2000. The only question is whether this decline is about to end as Jupiter begins its first of three semi-squares to Saturn, as it did in October 2002 (with a second low in March 2003 as the second semi-square took place), or if it is just in the early stages of a much more serious decline that could last more than two years as it did following the high in January 2000.

On a more Mundane level, Jupiter in Aries relates to Russia’s aggressive and brutal military campaign against Ukraine. But as expressed by my brilliant colleague Aleksandar Imsiragic of Belgrade, Serbia, in our private discussions last week in Montenegro, this semi-square with Saturn (July 21, 2022-March 21, 2023) is not likely to bode well for Russia. Jupiter in Aries may be the aggressor, but Saturn is the resistance (Ukraine), and Saturn is usually more dominant. This also fits with Mars turning retrograde in Gemini, October 30, 2022-January 12, 2023, which is another signature often pointing to the failure of the aggressor in military conflicts. I know conventional belief is that Russia is about to overwhelm Ukraine and force the latter to surrender, especially given the belief that Europe (and other nations) may not be able to sustain a winter without Russian natural gas, oil, and wheat. They will likely try to negotiate this conflict to an end. However, I am not so conventional nor would I be so sure of Ukraine’s defeat or surrender, based on these outer planet patterns that are about to begin, and are especially strong after October 30.

Something very big is happening that may transform the arc of world history. Maybe it started with the eclipse in August 1999. We know that in 2023, Pluto will begin a 20-year trek through the revolutionary sign of Aquarius. We know that 1-2 years after a Jupiter/Saturn conjunction, there is usually a major military conflict that ultimately stands out as a transformational, historical event. After the 2000 conjunction, we had the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center that led to the war with Iraq and changed the world. In 2022, we have the Russian attack on Ukraine, the first war on the European continent since WWII. In 1980, it was Iran taking hostage American citizens. In the early 1960’s, it was the Cuban missile crisis. In 1940-41, it was WWII.

As we end this week’s column, we provide one more quote about Nostradamus from the Washington Post article above. One of the very few precisely dated prophecies among the 950 or so left by Michael Nostradamus (1503-1566), (this) is probably based on a combination of millennial speculation and the anticipated total solar eclipse of Aug. 11, 1999 (July 29 in the Julian calendar), visible in Europe. Nostradamus could have found the date in a table of eclipses. Vladimir Putin was appointed as the first deputy prime minister of Russia on August 9, 1999, thus beginning his ascent to power that he holds today. This correlation with Nostradamus was first presented to my awareness by renowned Mundane Astrologer Claude Weiss of Zurich, Switzerland (www.astrodata.ch, as written about in the June-July issue of Astrologie Heute).

I am not one to follow the beliefs of many that these are the end times. In fact, I am much more optimistic (and perhaps unconventional) about the future of humankind, believing that these periods of crises are necessary steps to be taken as we prepare for this next renaissance when Uranus moves into Gemini and trines Pluto in Aquarius in the latter half of this decade. I do not think that the current leadership of autocratic governments will take us there. They cannot be sustained. If they were the future, why are not more people trying to immigrate to those nations, as Imsiragic points out? Why do so many people want to immigrate into the U.S.? What does this tell you about the arc of human history – and its future – that is being written today? Just observe where the people of world most want to live today and why. That is the light of the future of the world, of humanity’s path of evolution. Where are we headed and why? Freedom. Independence. Respect for the individual and their rights. All Aquarian ideals. Yes, we stumble at first. But we are all in this together, we are all part of the same race – the human race. It is just as the concept of the Air Epoch (Jupiter and Saturn conjoining in air signs) portends for the next 140+ years, once we understand, just as Deepak Chopra stated, that every decision I make is a choice between a grievance and a miracle.

Announcements  

	The July Issue of The MMA CYCLES REPORT will be released this week! With Jupiter about to make its first of three semi-squares to Saturn on July 21, the current state of financial markets and the economy are subject to further changes in their outlook. Every issue provides MMA’s intermediate-term and near-term outlook for the U.S. stock market, Gold, Silver, Treasuries, Euro Currency, Crude Oil, and Soybeans. Each issue also contains MMA’s original geocosmic critical reversal dates (CRDs) and Solar/Lunar reversal dates over the next several weeks for DJIA, Gold, and Silver, complete with trading strategies for position traders during the next month. For an additional $20, you can also receive the next issue, due in two weeks, of the MMA+ addendum edited by Pouyan Zolfagharni, which has become a very popular addition to the MMA Cycles Report (less technical, more visual, high quality analysis and update on MMA Cycles Report markets). Read more about MMA Cycles Report>>, and/or for The Dutch edition, which includes AEX index analysis by MMA analist Irma Schogt, read more here>>
	You asked for it and now it’s coming. The new MMA ETF Monthly Cycles Report will be launched on August 17! Written by MMTA director Gianni Di Poce, this report will cover SPY (S&P stock market), GDX (Gold), BITO (Bitcoin), TLT (Treasuries), XLE (Energy), XLV (Health groups), XLK (Technology), and XHB (home builders, real estate). Now you can get our cycles and geocosmic outlooks for the most popular and traded ETFs, which trade like stocks on the major exchanges. Stay tuned for further details and a special introductory offer for this new monthly market report from MMA! A great compliment to the monthly MMA Cycles Report and its Dutch version of the SMT Cyclus Nieuwsbrief>>
	THE MMA TRADING AND INVESTMENT RETREAT, Troy, Michigan, at the Michigan State University Education Center will take place September 9-11, 2022. MARK THE DATE! This special 3-day event will feature a long-term, intermediate-term, and short-term analysis of several financial markets, including the U.S. stock market, Gold, Bitcoin, Euro, T-Notes, and Crude Oil, plus others to be determined. It will also go into depth with the MMA trading plan – how to use the daily and weekly report data points – and how we assess each market and determine the trading strategy for each day based on MMA’s cycles analysis, geocosmic studies, solar/lunar studies, combined with chart patterns, price targets, and technical studies. Led by Raymond Merriman and Gianni di Poce will be leading these discussions and presentations. Attendance of non-students will be limited, and special rates will be available to subscribers of SMT and MMA reports (monthly, weekly, or daily). If you are a short-term trader, or an investor interested in the longer- and intermediate-term outlook, this is a special event you will not want to miss! It is an opportunity not only to see and hear the forecasts for several financial markets, but also an opportunity to connect with those who have studied and apply the MMA methodology of market analysis and market timing. It doesn’t mean you have to be a student to benefit from this event, but you will be able to hear the outlooks of those who do. This is a one-of-its-kind opportunity! For information and registration click here>>

Disclaimer & State of Purpose

The purpose of this column is not to predict the future movement of various financial markets. However, that is the purpose of the Schogt Market Timing & MMA (Merriman Market Analyst) subscription services. This column is not a subscription service. It is a free service, except in those cases where a fee may be assessed to cover the cost of translating this column from English into a non-English language. 

This weekly report is written with the intent to educate the reader on the relationship between astrological factors and collective human activities as they are happening. In this regard, this report will oftentimes report what happened in various stock and financial markets throughout the world in the past week, and discuss that movement in light of the geocosmic signatures that were in effect. It will then identify the geocosmic factors that will be in effect in the next week, or even month, or even years, and the author's understanding of how these signatures will likely affect human activity in the times to come. 

The author (Merriman) will do this from a perspective of a cycle's analyst looking at the military, political, economic, and even financial markets of the world. It is possible that some forecasts will be made based on these factors. However, the primary goal is to both educate and alert the reader as to the psychological climate we are in, from an astrological perspective. The hope is that it will help the reader understand these psychological dynamics that underlie (or coincide with) the news events and hence financial markets of the day.

No guarantee as to the accuracy of this report is being made here. Any decisions in financial markets are solely the responsibility of the reader, and neither the author nor the publishers assume any responsibility at all for those individual decisions. Reader should understand that futures and options trading are considered high risk.