Keep Track of Mercury and Neptune

February 19, 2010

From the perspective of traditional astrology, when Mercury and Neptune get together we have opportunities for fanciful thinking, whether it's inspired by dreamy flights of imagination, creative intelligence, utter confusion, active deception, or raving paranoia. It's precisely that potential that gives this planetary combination such a strong connection to movements in the markets- after all, it's fanciful thinking that triggers speculation and risk-taking, whether it's to the long side or to the short side.

That's why it's a good idea for all of us as astro-traders to keep track of Mercury/Neptune interactions, especially Mercury/Neptune conjunctions. As we do so, of course, we are far less interested in their symbolic implications than we are in empirical measurements of the market movements that accompany these phenomena.

Mercury/Neptune conjunctions are not extremely rare astrological events, which makes it quite practical to study their effects on trading trends-we can gather a big enough sample for our measurements to be statistically significant, and we can thus devise more profitable trading strategies with much less effort than might otherwise be the case.

Studying the impact of this conjunction also illustrates quite clearly the need to deal with each index or commodity as an entirely separate entity. Mercury/Neptune conjunctions clearly have an influence on market behavior, but that influence is a little bit different in different trading situations.

With the S+P 500, for example, the Mercury/Neptune conjunction has a slight likelihood of bringing stock prices down for a day or two after it takes place. But that little bit of negative energy is soon replaced by more bullish tendencies, and 15 days after the Mercury/Neptune conjunction the S&P 500 has hit higher prices two out of three times.

The response from the NASDAQ Composite has been much more dramatically bullish, however, with the index rising three out of four times on the day following a Mercury/Neptune conjunction. The positive energy tends to be fairly sustained, with the NASDAQ higher 15 days after the conjunction about 60 percent of the time.

Gold prices also tend to respond positively and rapidly to Mercury/Neptune conjunctions, with Gold going up about 65 percent of the time on the day following the conjunction. The bullish response from Gold will usually taper off after a couple of weeks, though, with just a 56 percent chance of higher Gold prices 15 days after the event. The peak of the positive energy for Gold comes about nine days after the Mercury/Neptune conjunction, when there is a 70 percent likelihood of higher prices.

Mercury/Neptune conjunctions typically provoke a remarkably different response from the Tokyo NIKKEI Index, with a price increase immediately after the conjunction favored very slightly and somewhat erratic price action after that, even though the bias remains positive overall. Then a burst of positive energy typically hits the NIKKEI after a little more than three weeks have passed, with a 76 percent likelihood of higher prices for the index 26 days after the date of the conjunction.

Mercury/Neptune conjunctions take place about once a year, although with Mercury in retrograde motion there can sometimes be several of them during a single calendar year. There was a five-year period, for example with just one Mercury/Neptune conjunction each year- on February 21, 2003; on February 15, 2004; on February 8, 2005; on February 1, 2006; and on January 26, 2007. Then in 2008 there were three Mercury/Neptune conjunctions-on January 22, February 9, and March 9. In 2009 there was only one, on March 5.

The coming years will bring Mercury/Neptune conjunctions on February 27, 2010; on February 20, 2011; on February 14, 2012; on February 6, 2013; on March 22, 2014; and on March 18, 2015. The next year with more than one Mercury/Neptune conjunction will be 2019, with conjunctions on February 19, March 24, and April 2.

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WATCHING THE GOLD MARKET

Mercury and Neptune have both helped define the recent trading ranges for Gold, which makes the upcoming conjunction between these two planets a potential trigger for a clear shift in trend. To see the relevant planetary price lines in action, take a look at the video at http://www.financialcyclesweekly.com/public/803.cfm .

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GREEK CRISIS WIDENS; THE ASTROLOGY SHOWED IT AHEAD OF TIME

The news continues to be saturated with items on the widening crisis in Greece, which was enabled by the behind-the-scenes manipulations of Goldman Sachs and which is now threatening to bring down the entire economic structure of the European Union.

For attentive astrologers, however, this perilous situation was no surprise. In fact, Gold Members at www.FinancialCyclesWeekly.com got an advance warning- see the details in the video at http://www.financialcyclesweekly.com/public/802.cfm .

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