Jupiter losing its swagger, may rub off on stocks

Stocks edged slightly lower last week as negative reaction to the Union Budget and RBI’s decision to leave rates unchanged sparked more selling. Despite touching the 18K level mid-week, the Sensex finished at 17,466 while the Nifty ended the week at 5317.  While I thought we might see a little more upside, this was not an unexpected outcome.  In last week’s column, I thought that stocks would be more bullish in the first half of the week ahead of the Venus-Jupiter conjunction and then be more prone to declines afterwards. This is exactly what happened as stocks rose into Wednesday and then sold off following the disappointing RBI decision on Thursday and Friday’s Budget.

Now that the rare Jupiter alignment with Mars, Venus and Pluto has passed, there may be less optimism available needed for further gains. This hypothesis remains to be confirmed, however, as global stocks mostly held onto gains into the end of last week. In keeping with Jupiter’s influence, most economic data continue to be broadly favourable, although the RBI did not feel comfortable enough cutting rates, given rising fuel prices and inflation concerns. The increased tax burden of the result of the Union Budget may further stoke the fires of inflation, so that may further reduce the likelihood of rate cuts in April. As Jupiter’s influence wanes in coming weeks, I do expect the economic environment to become more challenging. As global interest rates continue to drift higher, central bankers may be forced to drain liquidity from the system in an effort to keep rates down, thus putting a greater squeeze on stocks.

This week will provide important evidence for a possible new interim trend in the wake of the Jupiter-Pluto alignment. By itself, the separation of this aspect is reason enough to expect further weakness in stocks. Growth and profitability will tend to be de-emphasised as economic barometers may begin to reflect more downside risks such as inflation, rising debt levels and stagnating corporate earnings. In addition, there will be a close aspect between Mars and Rahu in the first half of the week that could spark some significant selling. The Moon joins this alignment on Tuesday, which perhaps makes that day more vulnerable to declines, although the negative mood may apply to Monday and Wednesday also. Thursday’s New Moon in Pisces will be punctuated by a conjunction with Mercury which could improve sentiment into week’s end. Friday’s Sun-Uranus conjunction would also appear to generate more positive sentiment.

Crude slipped further from its lofty heights as prospects of further Fed easing dimmed.   WTI crude finished near $106.  I thought we might have seen more upside, especially in the early week, although the final outcome was not surprising. And Monday’s Mercury retrograde station did correspond with a down day as expected. This week’s Mars-Rahu aspect may further undermine crude with more sizeable declines possible.
Gold lost another 3% last week as more signs of an economic recovery lessened its appeal as a safe haven. Gold finished near $1,660. Despite the strong Jupiter energy early in the week, gold was bearish throughout the week with the largest declines arriving at the culmination of the Venus-Jupiter conjunction. Gold looks somewhat unlikely to rebound this week due to the influence of the planet Mars. The late week Sun-Uranus conjunction could prompt some buying, however, and this could occur as early as Wednesday when Mercury conjoins the Sun.

The writer is a neo-Vedic astrologer specialising in predictive astrology. www.modernvedicastrology.com