Ray Merriman's market week:
Week of December 17
We are now about to enter a traditionally bullish seasonal period for U.S. equities-the last two weeks of the year. The end of this week will begin the Christmas holiday period, when volume tends to decrease and prices tend to rise. It doesn't always work out this way, but usually that is the case. Consequently, as with all holiday markets and Mercury retrograde periods, technical indicators tend not to be reliable. In this case, that may be a good thing, for many of the technical studies we utilize are beginning to turn bearish.
Friday's late news indicates that Afghan and U.S. troops are circling in on the capture of Bin Laden, in the hills of Northern Afghanistan. This is very interesting because the retrograde of transiting Jupiter is in an exact conjunction to the Sun of the United States horoscope now. Additionally, Friday was a New Moon in Sagittarius, which is governed by Jupiter. It appears that the U.S. may be in a favorable two-week lunation period now, which means that more "good news" for the country and its President is likely. These signatures receive an additional boost around December 24, when transiting Mars (military activity) and Jupiter form a trine, with both favorably aspecting the U.S. Sun.
However, as fortunate as the U.S. horoscope is, the world in general is about to enter yet another potentially very dangerous period, one inclined toward increased international tensions. Between December 22 and 30, transiting Mars will form a T-square to the Saturn-Pluto opposition. As discussed before, it is the Saturn-Pluto opposition whose principles are so consistent with terrorist activity and the threat to human life. When Mars transits in square to this signature, it is especially vulnerable to exploding. We already see signs of increased military tensions building up between Israel and Palestine. These tensions may reach a climax during the period of the T-square.
How these mixed signatures will affect the U.S. stock market is difficult to say. Seasonally, the market tends to be up in December, as mentioned earlier. But the technical picture is not very strong at the moment, so a military or terrorist assault could correlate to a breakdown in prices. On the other hand, if the assault is not on America, foreign monies might find their way to American equities as a "safe haven." It might be better to go shopping for holiday gifts than to take large risks in the stock market at this time. Some time in the next six weeks, an important low in both the American and Japanese stock markets is due. We haven't seen it yet.
Disclaimer: Past results are no guarantee of future results. Therefore no guarantees are made by either the author or publisher of this report. You are solely responsible for any action you initiate in the market, and the author and publisher assume none whatsoever. Information is provided with sincere intent, and according to our own proprietary studies and methodologies.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Raymond Merriman is a professional astrologer and President of The Merriman Market Analyst, Inc., an investment advisory firm specializing in market timing products and services. He is the editor of The MMA Cycles Report, an advisory newsletter used by banks, financial institutions, investors and traders. He is the author of numerous astrology books, and developed two financial astrological software systems: The FAR (Financial Astrological Research) program, and the SOS (Stock Optimizing Selector) Program, which enable traders to identify potential turning points in various stocks and/or financial futures markets. He can be reached by email, or visit his website.
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