Last week was the first complete week since Mercury turned retrograde on November 30, a cosmic phenomenon that will last through December 20. In this past week we observed several market movements that are consistent with our historical observations of Mercury retrograde. On Wednesday, December 8, before the U.S. markets even opened, Silver suddenly reversed. Throughout the prior week, from Thursday, December 2 through Tuesday, December 7, March Silver traded as high as 823, and not lower than 784. The 823 high was right up there with its yearly high for the year, which was at 828 back on April 2. And that was its highest level since February 7, 1998, so this double top was a 6-year high. But two days later, by Thursday, December 9, March Silver was all the way down to 662, a loss of nearly 20% in one week. Was that expected? Did support hold? No, and that is the nature of Mercury retrograde.

And Gold, the darling of the trading community for the past 6 months, had risen from 372.50 back on May 10, 2004 (one week before Venus turned retrograde), to a 16-year high of 459.20 on Friday, December 3. That was a 6-month appreciation of 31%. It was also in the time band of our projected crest, due December 3-24, based on the historical observation of Mars in a certain sector of Scorpio. Gold was still trading above 456 as late as Tuesday of last week, December 7. But by the very next day, it fell all the way back to 435, a one day loss of over $20.00 from top to bottom. Did support hold there? Well, it depends on what level of support you are looking for. Obviously Gold did not break as much support as Silver.

And what about Black Gold? Crude Oil continued to decline, testing 40.00 last week, when just six weeks ago it was at an all-time high of 55.65. That’s a whopping 26+% decline, which is even more severe than Silver, albeit over a much longer period of time (6 weeks compared to only one week). But why are all these “inflation-related” commodities falling so hard so suddenly? Is it Mercury retrograde? Is it because of all these Sagittarian planets and Jupiter major aspects discussed last week? Sure, as that is a principle of exaggeration and over-reaching. And they may also be reversing now because we have just ended one of the most heavily populated geocosmic cluster zones of the year, when 16 major signatures were present between November 4 and December 5, in which no more than 6 calendar days separated any two consecutive signatures. As soon as that period ended (December 6 was the first trading day), the top was in, and the decline was about to begin. It actually started Tuesday, but accelerated with great exaggeration on Wednesday. Thus is was a combination of several geocosmic factors: Mercury retrograde in Sagittarius, conjunct Pluto in Sagittarius, following the week after Jupiter formed its first of three waning trines to Jupiter.

As the hard commodities plummeted, the U.S. stock market embarked upon a wild ride of its own. The S&P and NASDAQ formed new highs for their 4-year cycles on December 3. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also formed a new multi-month high on December 3, but not a new high for its 4-year cycle, which so far was 10,753 back on February 19. As it stands right now, this is a case of Intermarket bearish divergence. It will only be negated if the DJIA can climb back above that February high, which is a little more than 200 points away.

Other equity markets of the world performed as one would expect under Mercury retrograde. Some were up, like the Swiss stock market and the Argentina Merval. Some were down, like the London FTSE and Japanese Nikkei. And some just flipped back and forth, making new multi week highs or lows, like the German DAX, Netherlands AEX, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng. The All Ordinaries of Australia made another new all time high early last week, and then started to fall. In almost all indices (except the Swiss and Argentina), the technical studies look more bearish than bullish as we start next week. But such studies may be unreliable under the retrograde of Mercury, as observed so many times in the past. Yet we must also take note that December 2-3 was a geocosmic reversal period in which many equity markets around the world attained their multi-week and multi-month highs. And now they are at least pausing, as our concept of critical reversal dates and geocosmic cluster zones would imply.

The economic and political news of last week was also very reflective of longer-term geocosmic patterns, especially given our attention lately to the Saturn-Pluto cycle. This cycle has much to do with issues pertaining to debt. The Treasuries of the world, the Central Banks, the level of interest rates, the values of the currencies relative to one another (and especially to the Dollar)… all of these relate to the geocosmic relationship between Saturn and Pluto. Right now, Saturn is in retrograde in Cancer, moving back to a quincunx (150 degree aspect) to Pluto in Sagittarius. Saturn has also been at the midpoint of Pluto and Uranus (October 2004 through early August 2005), and in the next two years, it will move into a waxing and waning sesquiquadrate with each (2004-2006). Astrologically, this configuration (known as a Yod) is just a prelude to 2008-2010, when these same three planets (Saturn-Uranus-Pluto) will enter a non-exact, but-close-enough T-square to one another. The last time that happened was in 1931. So what we see between late 2004 through 2006 is a cosmic prelude to what we will see between 2008-2010, which itself appears to be developing themes similar to what we experienced in 1931, the last time this T-square unfolded.

In last week’s column, I focused on a fundamental issue developing in the United States that I thought would relate to the Saturn-Pluto dynamic of “debt issues” later this decade, and possibly well into the next decade. I discussed the looming crisis of an under funded Social Security and Medicare program, probably coinciding with the start of the “Baby Boomers” retiring in 2008. Although this crisis is looming in the United States, the repercussions could be felt throughout the entire free world. The concern about the financial well-being of the U.S.A. is not just a concern noted through the understanding of astrology. Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal had a very interesting editorial titled: “A Stronger Treasury.” The editorial starts out with, “More than Defense or State, and certainly more than Homeland Security, if there is a single cabinet post that could ruin President Bush’s second term, our choice would be Treasury.” It goes on to ask: “...the larger issue is why the Bush Administration has settled for a weak Treasury… The need for a strong Treasury is all the more vital with Alan Greenspan scheduled to depart the FED in 2006…. In addition to expertise, Mr. Bush needs a Treasury Secretary who has the stature to fight the White House tendency to make economic choices for short-term political reasons…. But whoever Mr. Bush chooses, we hope he’s a figure large enough for the challenges likely to present themselves during the next four years. A Treasury Department is a terrible thing to waste.”

So, on top of the looming social security and Medicare crisis, we have political observers also deeply concerned about the White House’s ability to address the even greater overview of this nation’s financial direction. And it all ties in – synchronicity? - with the Saturn-Pluto cycle. This planetary-pair cycle rules debt and credit, prosperity and recession. As discussed so many times before in this column, when it moves from conjunction to opposition (1982-2001), federal deficits decrease, interest rates go down, taxes go down, prosperity increases, stock markets rally, and the correct investment strategy to apply is to “appreciate your capital.” When it moves from opposition to conjunction (2001-2020), deficits increase, interest rates rise, taxes start to rise, equity markets do not appreciate considering inflation, more and more recessions and even depressions unfold, and the correct investment strategy to apply is to “protect your capital.” A severely challenged (and neglected) Treasury Department or Central Bank could lead us right into the very type of “dark days economically” that a Saturn-Uranus-Pluto T-square would imply.
For this coming week, we find the Sun conjunct Pluto and Venus trine Saturn on Monday, December 13. Neither of these has a very strong correlation to reversals in equity markets, although the Sun-Pluto may have an impact on the currency and Treasury markets. On December 19, Venus will square Uranus and Mars will trine Saturn, which also have little impact upon equity markets. The final signature of this current cluster will be Mercury turning stationary direct on December 20. The midpoint of all these signatures is December 16-17, which means that within three trading days, there could be an end to corrections taking place in many financial markets. But since none of these is a Level 1 type of signature, I do not believe the level of reversal will be too significant. For that, we may have to wait until December 30 through the first week of January, when Mars will form its waning square to Uranus. That is a more powerful Level 1 type of geocosmic signature. Until then, this is a market for very short-term traders only.

Announcement: Next year’s Forecasts for 2005 book is completed, and the first group of pre-orders went out today, Friday, December 10. All “pre-publish” orders will be in the mail no later than this Monday, Dec 13. If you pre-ordered before December 8, you are in these groups, and you should be receiving your Forecasts For 2005 books by the end of this week, December 17-18. If you live overseas, you will probably receive your copies either late this week or by middle of next week. If you live in Canada, it could arrive in about two weeks, as your postal mail system is one of the most challenged on planet these days. Remaining copies of this year’s Forecasts Book are available at $39.95 (plus $5.00 postage USA and Canada, or $12.00 elsewhere), while supplies last. These may be ordered through our website at www.mmacycles.com (click the banner on ORDERS or BOOKS). Or you can order via email at ordersmma@msn.com, or by fax at 1-248-427-1994, or by phone at 1-248-626-3034. This unique overview of each year covers forecasts and critical reversal dates for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Gold, Silver, T-Notes, Euro, Swiss Franc, Japanese Yen, Corn, Soybeans, Wheat and Crude Oil markets. It is already proving to be true with Gold and Silver as of last week. Order now and lock in your copy of the 2005 Forecasts Book.

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.