Maybe all my hopes for world peace under the forthcoming Uranus-Neptune mutual reception are not so far out. That mutual reception comes back again this Tuesday, December 30, and will last through the remainder of this decade. When it first began early in 2003, I had pointed to this rare signature as having the possible correspondence of a massive movement towards world peace, the end of terrorism, violence, and weapons of mass destruction. Shortly after sharing these thoughts in this column, the largest protest ever against war and violence took place in mid-February. I suspect this huge protest probably delayed the inevitable start of the War in Iraq, which commence in mid-March anyway. But it was a sign of things to come, and a strong message that was echoed by former U.S. president Jimmy Carter at the recent Geneva Accord, who stated “It is unlikely that we shall ever see a better foundation for peace. The people support it. Political leaders are the obstacle to peace.”

But in the past two weeks, at three major developments have occurred which gives up. On December 13, Saddam Hussein, who is widely believed to be one of the most prominent supporters on international terrorism on the planet, was captured And then last week, Libyan leader and Mohamar Gadhafi agrees to end his nation’s “weapons of mass destruction” program. And finally, this week, in his Christmas message to the world, Catholic Pope John Paul II gives a passionate plea, praying for – guess what? – an end to war, terrorism, and violence, or “the great evils” afflicting mankind at this time. We are not in such bad company! Perhaps the only difference is that I am suggesting that there is actually a possibility to realize this wish in the next few years. The demand for it will not come from world leaders, but from the ever increasing masses of people whose voice becomes louder and louder, demanding this of their leaders. What an incredibly hopeful way to end the year 2003!

The next seven years will, I think, be a turning point in humankind’s consciousness, as Uranus (new and innovative solutions) travels through Pisces (old, long-standing emotional and/or religious conflicts), the last sign of the zodiac. But of course it will not happen all at once, and of course there is the possibility that instead of world peace, we might instead fall into the negative expressions of Uranus in Pisces, which is extreme chaos. Uranus tends to “break the rules,” diverge from tradition, and Pisces is prone to take things emotionally, on an over personal level. The key to navigating through this decade is to allow the space for these brilliant breakthroughs in consciousness, without putting negative spins on them, and thereby undermining them before they ever have a chance to blossom. It requires open-mindedness, respect of one another, a “good heart,” and focus towards the greater purpose (peace). It does not flourish in an environment of fear of retribution for what one might say, whereby one’s reputation for goodness can be quickly damaged through false interpretations, accusations, and suspicions of what one really meant. Both the negative and the positive dynamics of this major transit will be in evidence in the next 6-7 years. Hopefully each of us will have the presence of mind to think for ourselves as to what is right or wrong, good or bad, or somewhere in between. Hopefully we will be clear enough to not let various media, the politicians of the world, or others who may have a less than peaceful agenda affect our views, because they will certainly try under this signature.

In terms of world markets, there continued to be widespread divergences in the leading stock indices of the world last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the London FTSE index made yet another new yearly high last week. The DJIA reached as high as 10,375.90 on Tuesday, while the FTSE touched 4457.40. Both markets closed near these highs.

However, none of the indices we follow did the same. The German DAX got as high as 3913.30 on December 23 (it only traded for two days last week), which was slightly beneath its yearly high of 3930.30 registered on December 15. The Netherlands AEX could only rally to 332.10 on Wednesday, still well off its high for the year of 344.60 recorded on November 7. The Swiss stock market got all the way back to 5446 on Monday, which was still slightly below the yearly high of 5456.30 seen on December 11. All of these European markets are not that far away from their 25-week moving averages. Once those averages break, a decline of significance can be confirmed as being underway.

In the Far East, the Australian All Ordinaries index could only climb back to 3271.90 on Wednesday, still well off its high for the year, which was 3317.30 back on October 22. The Japanese Nikkei index only recovered to 10,417, well below the 11,239 high for the year, which was witnessed back on October 21. You may remember these October and November dates as the period of time in which we were looking for yearly highs to be made. However, as we can now see, it did happen, but only in some of the major stock indices of the world, and not all of them. The Hang Seng index of Hong Kong continues to be strong in sympathy with the outlook for the Chinese economy. Last week it got as high as 12545, just slightly off its high for the year of 12,741 recorded back on December 15.

Bearish divergence continues between the DJIA and the NASDAQ Composite of the United States. As the DJIA climbed to yet another new high on Wednesday, the NASDAQ could only get back to 1979.70. It’s high for the year remains back on December 3, when the index hit 2000.90.

In other important financial markets, the Euro continued rallying to yet another new all time high against the U.S. Dollar, getting above 1.2460 for the first time. And the Dollar also fell to its lowest level against the Yen since 2000. Gold prices continue climbing to new 7-year highs as it marches c loser and closer to $420,00/ounce. And Silver moved above $5.80 per ounce last week, for the first time since 1999. You just can’t have the Dollar falling against the major currencies like this, while Gold and Silver continue to climb, without some serious concerns by the monetary policy makers (central banks) of the world. And you certainly can’t expect precious metals to rise and Dollar to fall while the U.S. stock market continues to climb to new multi-year highs. Something has to give, and give soon.

Perhaps we’ll that shift in the financial markets come very soon. Between December 30-January 21, there are 10 major geocosmic signatures unfolding. Four of them are Level 1 types, the most powerful correlates to primary or greater cycles in stock indices. On New Year’s eve, there is an ominous T-square setting up between the Sun, Mars, and Saturn. It takes place on the angles (horizon or meridian) of every major city in the world that is located near the standard meridian for its time zone, as the calendar shifts from 2003 to 2004. It becomes an electional chart for the year 2004 for the world. These are signatures of international tension, military conflicts, and aggression. Terrorism is not ending, nor is the war against terrorism likely to end. Some major cities that fall on the these meridians include Washington D.C., New York City, Denver, San Francisco, Berlin, Leningrad, Istanbul, Baghdad, Taiwan, Kyoto, Manila, and London, to name just a few. Such a dynamic – if it happens - could propel precious metals and foreign currencies higher, and the Dollar lower.

After that, the New Year starts with a station of both Mercury and Jupiter, as well as a trine between the Sun and Jupiter, January 2-9. Normally this is an optimistic confluence, and one that would seem to produce the kind of optimism that could keep equity prices still high. It is possible that this optimism spills over into the next two weeks when Venus will conjunct Uranus in the first degree of Pisces. That could be a more powerful indicator of a change of trend in many financial markets.

On behalf of all of us at MMA (Merriman Market Analyst, Inc.), I would like to extend my most sincere wishes for a happy and prosperous New Year to every one of you. And if we should ever be in the same room on any my many travels scheduled for next year, please feel free to come and introduce yourself to me. I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you, whether you are from Japan, Netherlands, Switzerland, Australia, Argentina, Italy, United States, Germany, or any of the many other countries that carry this weekly column.

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.