Stars & stocks: Sun, Mars & Saturn play to worsen sentiments

Stocks resumed their downward trajectory last week as renewed inflation worries and the prospect of higher interest rates weighed heavily on investor sentiment. 

This bearish outcome unfolded largely as expected as Wednesday’s Saturn retrograde station coincided with a rise in caution. Along the way, however, there were a few wrinkles, as the market rose Monday despite some apparently tense influences involving Mars and Saturn.

But as is sometimes the case, the day of the exact aspect did not correspond with the predicted outcome. Rather, the bearish Saturn-inspired sentiment congealed later on as Saturn came to a full stop in the sky and began its backwards journey. As a result, markets fell Tuesday and Thursday when this Saturn effect was at its zenith. More surprisingly, stocks fell on Friday also despite a somewhat positive Moon-Venus influence. 

Now that Saturn has changed its direction and is now moving backwards, what can we expect?

Certainly, such planetary reversals can be omens for market reversals as popular sentiment often follows such planetary cues.

Since the market was falling ahead of the retrograde station, it would be tempting to think that it is in a better position to move higher once again.

And indeed this post-Saturn station rebound scenario is actually somewhat more likely, although it is not what I would call probable.

The difficulty is that Saturn is now moving back towards its eventual opposition aspect with Jupiter, which will be exact on March 29.

Readers may recall that the previous opposition between Jupiter and Saturn occurred on May 22, 2010, in the depths of the previous market correction. So we should be very cautious ahead of this upcoming Jupiter-Saturn aspect.

If it turns out to be bearish in the medium term as I expect, then any near-term rebound attempts could be quite modest.

This week features a powerful conjunction of Sun and Mars that is exact on Friday.  What makes this pairing of malefic planets more unpredictable is that it will form a larger and more potent alignment with Saturn.

Before that, we may see some gains accompany the early week Mercury-Venus aspect. While the combination of these planets is usually auspicious, this aspect is a minor one so its effect could be both unreliable and muted.  Tuesday and Wednesday are perhaps better bets for gains as the Moon joins Mercury in the fortuitous mix.

But sentiment will likely worsen as the week progresses as the blending of harsh energies of fiery Sun and Mars with the pessimism of Saturn could well coincide with a serious market situation.

Crude oil was largely unchanged last week as late-week uncertainty over civil unrest in Egypt caused a spike in prices to $89.  Crude looks poised to move higher this week as the Mercury-Venus aspect provides some bullish fuel. The late-week period is far less bullish and we may well see another selloff.

Gold followed a similar pattern as prices continued to slide through the week on the Saturn retrograde station but saw a jump back up towards $1,340 on Friday’s geopolitical nervousness.
Gold may well see more upside on the Mercury-Venus aspect early in the week but it is more likely to stumble later in the week as the Sun conjoins with Mars.

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