As anticipated via our understanding of geocosmics, many of the world’s stock indices made a bottom last week and reversed up by the end of the week. A cluster of geocosmic signatures – including two Level 1 types – were in effect March 24-28.

In Europe, the decline in the German DAX market ended on Wednesday, March 24, at 3692.40. This followed its primary cycle crest made way back on January 27 at 4175.50, a decline of over 11%, and lasting 9 weeks. This fits with the pattern of most 50-week cycle troughs, which oftentimes lose 8-20% of value over a 3-12 week period from the high. The DAX then closed sharply up the past two days, at 3822.30. The London FTSE index fell to a low of 4191.30 on Wednesday, its lowest level since the 4566.20 high of March 5. It closed the week with a sharp rally to 4357.50. In Netherlands, the AEX plummeted to 323.40 on Wednesday, 6 weeks after its yearly high of 365.90 on February 19. It closed the week at 335.20. And the Swiss stock index bottomed at 5437.50 on Monday, before rallying to close the week at 5587, still down from its yearly high of 5941.70 back on March 5. Still, the 50-week cycle low is in either in, or very close at hand in all the European markets. The technicals have not yet confirmed the low, but they won’t until the market is well off those lows.

In the Far East, the Japanese Nikkei rebounded smartly off a cycle low of 11,072 on Tuesday to close at 11,771, it’s highest level in 2 years. By far, this has been the strongest market we track over the past few weeks. It bodes well for the future of Japan, whose business climate has suffered greatly the past 14 years. The Australian All Ordinaries continues to challenge its all-time high of 3448.50 of March 18, a sit closed at 3424.20. It had fallen to 3375.80 for a cycle low on Thursday before a big rally up on Friday. But in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index continued to be under pressure, closing at 12,483, just a few points off its multi week low of 12,424 registered on Tuesday, and well off its yearly high of 14,058 back on March 1.

The U.S. stock markets also completed an important low last week, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average bottoming at 10,007.50 on Wednesday. This is down from its yearly high of 10,753 recorded back on February 19. This low satisfies many criteria for the 50-week bottom and "Pre-Presidential Election Year" trough we have been discussing as due by the end of May at the latest and ideally by the end of March. A close above the 25-day moving average would be a stronger confirmation signal, but that is up to 10,388. The NASDAQ Composite closed at 1960 after posting a multi-week low at 1896.90 on Wednesday. This is still far off from its yearly high of 2153.80 of January 26. But, like the DJIA, it looks positive right now, suggesting that the long-term cycle trough is probably in, and the next 50-week cycle has begun.

Our biggest concern to our bullish appraisal is the Mars-Uranus square of March 28. This aspect has a history of sharp price swings within 7 trading days in many financial markets. We certainly saw that last week in equities, but also in grains, precious metals, and Treasury Bonds and Notes. In the political arena, we certainly saw some unexpected shocks with the revelations of former National Security Advisor Richard Clark, On Wednesday, he began his testimony before the September 11 hearing by stating, “Those entrusted with protecting you failed you, and I failed you.” According to the Wall Street Journal, he went on to say that the Bush team didn’t take al Quaeda seriously enough early on, and was more bent on building a case for war with Iraq. The White House then mounted an effort to “discredited him as wrong, even partisan.” And then the article concluded, “Which side voters believe may be a crucial element of the 2004 race.”

And this brings us to reflect, again, on the charts of both the United States and President George W. Bush. As discussed many times before in this column, George Bush and the leadership of this country are simply not going to escape without having to account and explain again and again why they did what they did. Both are under the transit of Saturn over their Sun. This is a signature where others demand of you a full accounting of your past actions. And regardless of your responses, you get what you deserve. That is, if you can account adequately for your decisions and actions, you get rewarded. You command respect. But if you can’t account, you get criticized sharply, and may even suffer losses. And even though I believe this Saturn transit means the country will not want to make a change in leadership, it will still not stop the populace from demanding over and over again that Mr. Bush and his team account for their past behaviors. Thus it will not be a year in which much progress will be made, but instead a year when we will have to rehash the past over and over again. And with the Sun also square to Saturn this weekend (March 27), and Mars square Uranus, the criticism and the rhetoric may be especially negative. Indeed, both Kerry and Bush are already commencing campaigns as negative and critical of one another as any we have seen in the past.

This week will likely continue to experience the aftermath of both Saturn square Sun and Mars square Uranus. It is still a dangerous time, and it is still a time of surprises, and even shocking announcements and upsets. Sports fans are certainly seeing this happen in the NCAA College basketball tournament. The next big gathering of geocosmic signatures does not come into [play until April 6-14.

For our European readership, you be interested in a one-day workshop on Financial Astrology I will be giving at the Swiss World Congress in Basel, Switzerland, on Friday, April 9. For further information, please go to www.astrodata.ch, or call 41-(0) 43-343 33 33.

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.

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