Mars-Saturn aspect negative for early sessions

Stocks slumped last week as ongoing worries over West Asia and the rising price of oil offset Friday’s favourable industrial output numbers. 

This bearish outcome was largely in keeping with expectations as I noted in last week’s column that the planets looked quite challenging.  I thought that Monday could be lower on the Mars-Jupiter aspect and indeed stocks posted their biggest loss for the week.

I also suggested that we could see some midweek strength on the Mercury-Uranus conjunction and stocks gained on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The end of the week also reflected the key planetary influences as the approach of the nasty Mars-Saturn aspect coincided with declines on Thursday and Friday.

The talk of slowdown is relatively new and corresponds with the approach of the Jupiter-Saturn opposition aspect.  As I have previously noted, this configuration of the two most powerful planets in the solar system has the potential to move markets in a significant way.  Up until January, optimistic Jupiter was closely associated with Uranus, the planet of risk.

The result was a renewed awareness of inflation which eventually undermined Indian markets.  But the situation is now changing as expansionary Jupiter is in the proximity of cautious and pessimistic Saturn.

While inflation worries remain, there is now the added concern of contraction, slowdown and recession.  This is very much in keeping with Saturn’s symbolism of restraint and loss. The Jupiter-Saturn aspect becomes exact on March 29, although we could see greater emphasis placed on the dangers of contraction and recession for some time after that date.

This week looks volatile with the possibility of large moves in both directions, albeit with a distinctly bearish bias.  The early week looks quite bearish as the Mars-Saturn aspect is exact on Monday.  Since both Mars and Saturn are considered malefic planets, the bears usually rule the roost whenever they come together.

The midweek period offers the prospect of recovery on the Mercury-Jupiter conjunction, however, this usually bullish pairing is somewhat less reliable here due to the proximity of the aspect from Saturn.

Friday’s Mercury-Saturn aspect may correspond with disappointment or bad economic news, which is likely to damage sentiment once again.

As the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries announced it would boost production, crude oil futures retreated from last week’s highs closing a little above $100.

As expected, we saw some early week gains ahead of the Mercury-Uranus conjunction but prices came down afterwards.  This week is likely to start off bullish for crude with the approach of the Mercury-Jupiter conjunction, so we could see it push towards its recent highs once again.  After some midweek consolidation, the late week Mercury-Saturn aspect could provide another boost.

Gold slipped back from its recent highs last week as the dollar found renewed interest amidst a resurgence of concern about European debt.  Gold may well benefit from the pessimism around the early week Mars-Saturn aspect.  The late week period looks more uncertain, however, as the Sun’s aspect with Rahu could reduce bullion’s appeal.

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