Lunar eclipse to magnify bearish pressures

Stocks slipped last week as declining industrial production and negative global cues tilted the market towards the bears. The Sensex fell by less than 1% closing at 18268 while the Nifty finished the week at 5485.

I thought we might have seen a little more upside on the Jupiter aspects but it seems that the market cannot quite shake off Saturn’s negative effects here. We did get some modest gains in the early part of the week but these arrived earlier than expected as Jupiter had not quite formed its exact aspect with Neptune.

The late week declines are perhaps further evidence that the bulls are showing signs of fatigue ahead of the critical mid-June period.
Saturn appears to be very much in control here as pessimism and anxiety over the global recovery are growing. Investors are fearful that the economy will not be able to expand once the Fed’s stimulus is removed.

While Indian markets have avoided the worst of this current correction, stocks are still trading within a narrow range with a bearish bias. This may be correlated with an increase of negative planetary energy as Saturn strengthens ahead of its station on Monday when Saturn completes its retrograde cycle and returns to forward motion.

This reversal in Saturn’s direction is often implicated in changes in market direction. Saturn increases its negative energy whenever it slows down near its stations, so it is not surprising that stocks should continue to struggle here.

The upcoming Saturn station is perhaps made more negative because Saturn will form a tense square aspect with Pluto. Saturn-Pluto aspects are associated with debts and losses so we should see further worries in those areas over the coming days. 

In addition, all that bearish Saturn energy may be further magnified by a lunar eclipse that occurs shortly after midnight on Thursday in the first degree of Sagittarius. Since eclipses are often correlated with an increase in volatility and an interruption of the status quo, this may well create more downward pressure.

The short-term planetary influences also seem to suggest further downside this week as Mars enters the sign of Taurus on Monday while in close aspect with Rahu. Taurus, of course, is the sign of “the bull” but this does not look at all bullish.

Meanwhile, Mercury conjoins Ketu on Tuesday as it enters Gemini suggesting quick changes and uncertainty that require agility and dexterity.  By the end of the week Mercury forms aspects with Neptune and Jupiter so that may be a source of improvement.

After an unproductive Opec meeting last week, crude oil closed slightly lower below $100 on expectations that Saudi Arabia would boost production. We did see some significant gains near mid-week, however, and these correlated quite closely with the Jupiter-Neptune aspect. Friday’s sell-off nullified the previous upmove as the mood darkened along with the intensifying Saturn energy.

This week’s eclipse is likely to increase the trading range with a greater risk of more downside. The late week Mercury influence may boost sentiment somewhat.

As inflation fears receded, gold slipped a little last week closing under $1540. The mostly flat performance occurred despite the entry of Venus into Taurus, a normally bullish indication. The Sun is fast approaching its conjunction with bearish Ketu for Thursday’s lunar eclipse so we may see more significant downside in gold this week.

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