Last week I talked about the possibility of entering a very positive period in the next two weeks, based on the new moon in Libra, and Venus – the ruler of Libra – still in Libra too, moving towards favorable trine aspects to Uranus and mars. Additionally, Mars was turning direct last weekend, which was likely the most important (although not the only) geocosmic correlate to the end and beginning of short-term market cycles. This was reflected in world stock indices the world over. Most ended their rather sharp decline last Monday or Tuesday, then began impressive rallies into the Friday. However, the opposite was the case with precious metals, T-Bonds and T-Notes, Soybeans, and non-Dollar currencies as well. These markets mostly topped out earlier in the week as the Moon transited through Sagittarius (the “Sagittarius Factor”), then experienced quite a sell off into Friday. In the case of precious metals, Friday was a particularly hard down day. The Sagittarius factor is particular impressive as a sharp, short-term reversal signature with precious metals and interest-rate related markets.

In Europe, the German DAX index bottomed on Tuesday at 3203, after attaining it ‘s yearly high September 5 at 3676.90. That was nearly a 13% decline. By Friday, prices had rallied smartly back to 3440, about a 50% correction of the primary swing down. The Netherlands AEX index bottomed at 305.30 last Tuesday, down from its yearly high and double top formation on September 4 and 9 when prices hit 344.20. That represents an 11% decline. Friday’s high of 323.80 is also nearly a 50% correction back up of that primary down swing. The London FTSE also had a cycle low of some type last Tuesday at 4081.80, which represents a modest decline of only 5.7% from it yearly high on September 17 at 4329.60. It closed the week near its highs of 4285.40. The Swiss stock market fell to 5001 on Tuesday. Its yearly high occurred back on Friday, September 19, at 5445.20. But like the Netherlands and German markets, it could only rally back about 50% of what it lost, recording its high for the week on Friday at 5207. Each of these markets showed some internal technical strength following Tuesday’s low. From oversold conditions, they returned to a neutral condition. So they are poised for a big move shortly. Either they will accelerate quickly to new highs, or they will reverse right here and roll over to new cycle lows in the coming weeks.

In the Far East, the Japanese Nikkei index ended its sharp decline on Monday at 10,148. This is a loss of 9% from the 11.160 high of two weeks earlier. It rallied back to 10,726 on Friday. The Australian All Ordinaries index ended its down turn on October 1 at 3159.80, after making a double top to its yearly high on September 19 at 3249.40. It ended the week at 3205.70, just a couple points off the high for last week, but still only a 505 correction of the move down. The exception to the bearishness of other world markets continued in the Hang Seng Index of Hong Kong, which made another new yearly just on Friday at 11,852. As stated last week, “It still closed at a relatively strong 11,216 too, so we could easily see new highs still in the index in the next few days.” Indeed we did.

The United States stock indexes were also strong into Friday after posting lows last Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average bottomed at 9230.50 then, but by Friday they had gained all their losses back and more, rising as high to 9666, just 20 points off their yearly high of 9686 achieved on September19. However, by the close, it had given back nearly 100 of those points. The NASDAQ Composite also peaked out September 19 at 1913.70, then fell to 1783.50 by last Tuesday. But the following rally into Friday only got back to 1891.60, also slightly off the prior high.

The geocosmic signatures this week could support the end of a corrective rally in many of these markets, and then another sell off. The Sun formed a trine aspect to Neptune on Friday, October 3, which is a moderately strong signature correlating to reversals. On Monday, the Sun will square Saturn and Chiron (T-square), which might indicate the stress that many people are still feeling, as well as the sudden cold temperature drop in the grain belt. This sudden cold wasn’t unexpected for those who read last year’s Forecast form 2003 book, where it stated “September 25-Ocgtober 7: Possible frost or freeze.” Indeed we got that, and it drove Soybeans up to $7.00 bushel, its highest price in 5 years.

But following this square, Venus will move into an exciting trine aspect to Uranus and Venus on October 8-10, just in time for the start of the ISAR 2003 seminar, the largest gathering of professional astrologers to take place this year. This also bodes well for international efforts towards cooperation and world peace. Hopefully something positive can be agreed to at that time, for afterwards Venus will start its trek through Scorpio. In Libra, Venus is strong and optimistic. In Scorpio it is in its detriment, and weakened. Venus in Libra usually corresponds to strength in equities and a sell off in the precious metals, which finally happened late last week. But in Scorpio, this relationship will oftentimes reverse. Venus is in Scorpio through November 2.

Once we pass this week, we will focus our attention on October 22-November 3, when we expect a 50-week cycle in U.S. stocks to culminate, or be the first leg of two important lows to be realized by mid-December.

Due to my duties at the ISAR international conference mentioned above, I will not have a report available next week. For those who are interested, this conference includes a pre-seminar on Financial Astrology, and takes place October 8-13 at the Sheraton Anaheim hotel just outside of Los Angeles, and within walking distance of Disneyland. For further information, you can call 1-800-982-1788 before Sunday, or the Sheraton Anaheim itself at 1-714-234-1700. I look forward to seeing many of you there!

Disclaimer and statement of purpose: The purpose of this column is not to predict the future movement of various financial markets. However, that is the purpose of the MMA (Merriman Market Analyst) subscription services. This column is not a subscription service. It is a free service, except in those cases where a fee may be assessed to cover the cost of translating this column from English into a non-English language. This weekly report is written with the intent to educate the reader on the relationship between astrological factors and collective human activities as they are happening. In this regard, this report will oftentimes report what happened in various stock and financial markets throughout the world in the past week, and discuss that movement in light of the geocosmic signatures that were in effect. It will then identify the geocosmic factors that will be in effect in the next week, or even month, or even years, and the author’s understanding of how these signatures will likely affect human activity in the times to come. The author (Merriman) will do this from a perspective of a cycle’s analyst looking at the military, political, economic, and even financial markets of the world. It is possible that some forecasts will be made based on these factors. However, the primary goal is to both educate and alert the reader as to the psychological climate we are in, from an astrological perspective. The hope is that it will help the reader understand these psychological dynamics that underlie (or coincide with) the news events and hence financial markets of the day.

No guarantee as to the accuracy of this report is being made here. Any decisions in financial markets are solely the responsibility of the reader, and neither the author nor the publishers assume any responsibility at all for those individual decisions. Reader should understand that futures and options trading are considered high risk.