Gains in order as Venus approaches Mercury & Jupiter

Stocks tumbled more than 2% last week as rising food prices increased the likelihood of further RBI interest rate hikes.
The Sensex actually lost ground in all five sessions closing at 19135 while the Nifty finished at 5749. This bearish outcome was somewhat surprising given the favourable mid-week alignment between Sun, Venus and Pluto. I had expected some downside in the early going and we did get to see a small decline on Monday. However, the mid-week gains only manifested weakly as intra-day buying did not hold by the close. The end of the week saw the mood darken further, possibly due to the approaching Mars-Jupiter conjunction. 

Inflation remains the paramount worry in the minds of investors as US Fed chairman Ben Bernanke pledged an indefinite extension of the low interest rate policy.

While QE2 will be winding down as expected at the end of June, there appears to be no end in sight for the falling US dollar and the inflationary pressures the Fed policy is causing.
This is perhaps an appropriate reflection of the Jupiter-Rahu aspect due on May 7 as growth (Jupiter) is increasingly seen as speculative and is distorting (Rahu) the true nature of the market.
In developed economies such as the US and Germany, this influence is manifesting in further gains in the stock market while India is experiencing more of the downside to Rahu’s distorting effects in the form of more runaway inflation and falling equity prices.  Rahu is often an unpredictable influence which can generate both gains and losses as well as quick trend reversals and unsustainable rallies.

This week begins in the immediate aftermath of the Mars-Jupiter conjunction. Mars is often a negative influence and its proximity to the aspect from Rahu may also increase the probability of declines early in the week. In addition, Mars will enter Aries on Tuesday, so that is another potentially difficult influence. There is still the likelihood for some gains this week, however, as Venus approaches Mercury and Jupiter. While these planets will not form any exact aspects, their overall influence does look generally positive. For this reason, there is a reasonable chance of gains as the week progresses.

Crude oil saw modest gains last week closing above $113 as the falling dollar pushed investors into commodities. This outcome was largely in keeping with expectations as the early week saw mild weakness on the Mercury-Saturn aspect. Crude strengthened around the mid-week Sun-Venus-Pluto alignment as prices stayed firm to the end of the week.  While we could see some declines early in the week, prices could well rise again this week as Venus and Mercury continue their bullish transit of Pisces.

As the dollar continued to sag last week, gold extended its recent rally gaining more than 2% as it closed above $1,530. This outcome was an apt reflection of the bullish Sun-Venus alignment with Pluto although I thought we might have seen a little more weakness later in the week. Some selling is possible near the early week Mars-Rahu aspect but it may well be followed by yet another rally attempt as Venus approaches Mercury. Gold may well one of the main asset classes that will be impacted quite strongly by the upcoming Jupiter-Rahu aspect. One possible scenario is that the rally will remain intact leading to the exact aspect on May 7 and then become more vulnerable to declines afterwards.

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