Mercury could mar bullishness triggered by Jupiter-Uranus

Stocks extended their rebound for the second week in a row as positive long-term prospects offset short-term euro worries.
The Sensex rose by more than 1%, closing at 17,117, while the Nifty finished the week at 5135. This bullish outcome was broadly in keeping with expectations as the approaching conjunction of Jupiter and Uranus suggested an increase in risk appetite.
Interestingly, Tuesday was the worst day of the week with a fall of 2%. As I noted in last week’s column, the bearish Mars-Saturn aspect and the Venus-Ketu conjunction would likely increase nervousness and volatility earlier in the week.

So while Indian bourses have bounced back from their recent lows, the outlook remains very uncertain as more investors express serious doubts about the future of the global economy.
Certainly, the planets reflect this uncertainty and anxiety quite well. After its recent direct station on May 30, Saturn is now moving forward towards its final opposition aspect with Uranus in late July. Currently, these planets are less than three degrees from exact aspect, so we should expect worries and tension around the economy to continue at least until their next exact aspect.

This does not mean that markets will be bearish for all of that time, but as I noted last week, it likely to act as an encumbrance on any rallies we might see in the near future. 

This week will feature a very powerful alignment of Mars, Jupiter and Uranus early in the week. Jupiter and Uranus form an exact conjunction on Tuesday and that is likely to create an atmosphere of excitement and novelty. This combination of planets is usually bullish, so we should see some attempts to take prices higher as traders catch the risk bug. The Mars aspect here complicates the picture to some extent since it is usually a bearish planet.

However, its effects here are just as likely to serve to intensify the speculative impulse. In other words, expect the unexpected.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, Mercury (trading, business) will form a minor aspect with Saturn (caution, pessimism) so there will likely be some measure of reluctance on any move upward.

The end of the week may feature swings in both directions as fast-moving Mercury will first aspect bullish Jupiter on Thursday and then move towards irascible Mars near the close on Friday.
Crude oil moved lower last week, closing below $72 on the futures
contract. This was largely in keeping with our expectation since
Mars is usually a negative influence and it formed an aspect with Saturn early in the week. With Jupiter conjoining Uranus in Pisces next week, there is a strong opportunity for a rebound. Pisces is a water sign that represents liquids of all kinds, hence the positive influence of this combination will likely boost crude’s fortunes.
Venus also enters Cancer, another water sign, on Wednesday so that may further load the dice.

After a volatile week, gold ended slightly higher closing at $1,220 on the futures contract. While we did see some sizable declines midweek as expected, the continued uncertainty surrounding the euro pushed more investors towards the safe-haven metal.
Venus enters Cancer this week so that may generate further gains at least in the short term.

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