Stars & Stocks: Venus-Mars aspect may trigger late-week decline

Stocks extended their rally last week as retail-sector reforms boosted sentiment. The Sensex rose 2%, closing at 18752, while the Nifty finished at 5691. This bullish outcome was somewhat unexpected as I thought that the preceding Saturn aspects would create a more cautious environment. To be sure, Tuesday’s Pluto station and Thursday’s Saturn alignment did coincide with the down days, but I did not expect Friday’s rally to be so strong. 

While stocks have been buoyed by domestic pro-market policy reforms, it is worth noting that global markets remain in more of a holding pattern in the wake of QE3. Despite Ben Bernanke’s promise to buy mortgage debt indefinitely, global markets have not yet responded to this latest influx of liquidity. The absence of any big rally is broadly in keeping with my expectation that the chances of a repeat of the 2009 and 2010 QE stock rallies are fairly low.

It is still early days, of course, so we will have to wait and see if global stocks can respond again to the stimulus plan. The fact that inflation-sensitive commodities such as crude oil sold off significantly last week certainly provided a clue that perhaps Bernanke’s magic is less inclined to work this time around.

Stocks continue to rise here despite the apparently bearish Saturn-Rahu aspect. Both these planets tend towards caution and disruption, although they do not always correlate with declines. Therefore, we should consider the possibility that the uptrend could remain in place for a while longer, perhaps until Jupiter turns retrograde on October 4. That is the next major planetary event that could provide enough of a change to coincide with a reversal. It is noteworthy that the early October period also features the next big Saturn aspect, this time with Neptune. That increases the probability that we could see some changes in the market mood around that time.

This week tilts bullish, at least for the first half. Mercury approaches a helpful aspect with Jupiter on Wednesday so that may well boost optimism in the early part of the week. However, the latter part of the week looks more subject to declines as Venus moves into aspect with Mars. This aspect is closest on Thursday.

As noted earlier, crude oil fell sharply last week as supply prospects improved and civil unrest in the Middle East eased. WTI crude lost 6% on the week closing near $93.This bearish outcome was expected as I thought the combined effects of Pluto and Saturn would likely drag sentiment lower. We should expect some rebound this week as Mercury forms a bullish aspect with Jupiter in the early part of the week. The late week, however, looks more uncertain.

As investors weighed the pros and cons of QE3 last week, gold held steady closing again near $1,775. I thought we might have seen more midweek selling around the Sun-Rahu aspect but gold only suffered a very modest decline. Gold looks fairly bullish this week as Tuesday’s Mercury-Jupiter aspect may boost risk appetite in the early part of the week. Thursday’s Venus-Mars aspect is more bearish, though, so there is a possibility that any early gains may not hold. But Friday’s Sun-Uranus aspect looks more positive again.

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