this week prediction of one of the astrologer i.e 14/3 - 18/3
Stocks slipped again last week as new data out of China suggested
slowing economic growth in an increasingly inflationary environment.
This double whammy was too much for New York to bear as the Dow fell
more than 1% closing at 12,044 while the S&P500 finished at 1304. It
was much the same story in Mumbai as Indian stocks declined on the
prospect of continued high oil prices. The BSE-Sensex tumbled almost 2%
closing at 18,174 while the Nifty ended the week at 5445. This outcome
was not wholly unexpected as I noted the likelihood of declines on
Monday's Sun-Saturn aspect and at the end of the week. Most global
markets fell on Monday and again towards the end of the week. I also
corrected noted the probability of gains in the midweek period around
the Mercury-Uranus conjunction. I thought we might see a little more
offsetting upside on this conjunction that we got, but Tuesday and
Wednesday were nonetheless mostly higher across the board. Of course,
my medium term expectations were pretty bearish here in any event as we
approach the Jupiter-Saturn opposition on March 28-29.
It's interesting to see how the discussion about inflation has evolved
in recent weeks. Back when Jupiter (optimism, expansion) was in fairly
close conjunction with Uranus (risk, change), we saw rising inflation in
the emerging economies like India and China but the potential downside
risks seemed fairly minimal as growth was expected to continued at a
brisk clip. That optimism began to waver after the exact conjunction in
early January as India's market began to decline in earnest. Clearly,
more investors were realizing that inflation could be a big problem that
could hamper growth in the future. But US and European markets
continued to climb as inflation was less of a problem in those
recession-ravaged economies. It was only with the ongoing Middle East
crisis and the spike in the price of oil that inflation became a concern
in developed countries. This was a reflection of the weakening of
Jupiter's optimism as it began to separate from risk-seeking Uranus and
approach cautious and pessimistic Saturn. The notion of good, or at
least, benign inflation is now being replaced by bad inflation. Now
that Jupiter is moving close to Saturn's aspect, worries about growth
are increasing, the Eurozone debt problem is back on the table and the
glass is very much half-empty. In other words, Jupiter's rosy outlook
is getting schooled by Saturn's sobriety. This is a similar planetary
set up to May 2010 when the last Jupiter-Saturn opposition coincided
quite closely with the stock market correction and the Flash Crash.
This week features a high number of aspects, both bullish and bearish.
Monday begins with the key Mars aspect to Saturn. This is a full
strength 8th house or quincunx aspect that definitely has the potential
to pack a punch, especially in India. In this instance, however, Venus
will also be part of this three-planet alignment, so that may moderate
some of the difficulties here. Nonetheless, I would be surprised to see
anything other than a decline on Monday. US markets may fare somewhat
better, if only because the aspect is exact at the open and will begin
to weaken thereafter. The midweek period looks more positive as Mercury
conjoins Jupiter on Tuesday and Wednesday. Both of these planets are
considered bullish influences, so their combination here is likely to
produce some significant upward thrust. Even here though the presence
of Saturn's aspect suggests a potential mitigation of the inherent
positive energy of Mercury-Jupiter. The late week period looks more
negative again as Mercury lines up exactly opposite Saturn on Friday.
Mercury-Saturn aspects usually correspond with pessimism and
disappointing economic news so it is quite possible that any midweek
gains may come under threat.
