Column

Last week, stocks rose for the fifth consecutive week as positive earnings reports and the absence of any bad news from Europe kept bulls in command.

After some early week selling, indices gained more than 2%, with the Sensex closing at 17604 and the Nifty at 5325. Given the apparently bearish Venus-Mars aspect mid-week, this bullish trend was somewhat surprising.

I did not fully expect that the market would rebound as strongly as it did after Monday’s decline.

The late week Venus entry into Pisces did, however, coincide with a rise in prices last Friday.

There are signs of improving economic conditions on all fronts. If the US economy continues on its current path of recovery, and Europe manages to avoid a worst-case scenario, it is then possible to envisage an enduring bull rally right through 2012.But the stars do not seem to offer their unreserved endorsement of such a bullish scenario.

As I have noted previously, Saturn will turn retrograde tomorrow.This is another potential turning point that warrants close attention.

Jupiter remains very much in control through its previous aspect, with Uranus and its approaching aspect with Pluto. The presence of Jupiter in the current planetary alignment somewhat lessened the probability of a full-blown correction.

It seems unlikely that the market can continue to rally higher all the way into the Jupiter-Pluto aspect on March 13, and yet that remains within the realm of possibility.Nonetheless, the ongoing Jupiter influence suggests that some strength is to be expected till that time. That said, the reversal of Saturn’s direction this week could throw a wrench into Jupiter’s optimism in the short term.

The astrological indicators do not paint an unequivocal bear picture.One reason is that there is a Sun-Mercury conjunction as well tomorrow, coinciding with Saturn turning retrograde. This is a bullish pairing that could actually lift the market, in spite of the shadow of Saturn’s darkness at this time. Increased tension is likely to manifest somewhat later in the week as Mercury is in aspect with Mars, so this is another plausible source of bearishness.

There is a mixed bag of influences here that could well keep the market moving higher, although we need to be respectful of the bearish potential of Saturn’s retrograde cycle.

With Iran apparently on the backburner, crude oil prices continued their decline, finishing below $98 for WTI.This bearish outcome was largely in keeping with expectations as the Venus-Mars aspect did coincide with declines for much of the week.Crude looks vulnerable. The Moon transits watery Cancer early in the week, so gains are perhaps more likely at that time.Friday’s Venus-Uranus conjunction may also bring higher prices.

Gold finished mostly unchanged at $1,730 on the week as Friday’s decline on improving US jobs data offset previous gains. I thought we might have seen more downside in the mid-week period on the Venus-Mars aspect so this neutral result was somewhat unexpected.Gold could see a lift early in the week around the Sun-Mercury conjunction. The late week features a high number of short-term aspects. So more strength is quite possible then. The dilemma is that Saturn’s retrograde cycle looks more problematic for gold, but it is unclear exactly when this weakness will manifest.

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