Merriman for the week of 11/19/12

Review and Preview Due to the time demands required to finish the Forecast 2013 Book in the next two weeks, this week and next week’s column will be shorter than usual. The book is expected to be out, in print and electronic book format, by December 15. Our MMA catalog of services and products is also now available by email file or by postal mail. If you would like to receive a copy, please email Amber at ordersmma@msn.com.This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it The information kit on MMTA (Merriman Market Timing Academy) will also be ready next week. If you are interested in applying for this Academy, which starts in April 2013, you may let Maureen know at maureenmmta@gmail.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , and she will mail this kit with an application form to you as well. As you can see, we are very busy these days at MMA! Well, the Mercury and Neptune stations of November 6 and 10 really struck last week as revered General David Petraeus abruptly resigned from his post as CIA director when it was revealed that he had been involved in an extramarital affair. The concern was that classified information and/or national secrets may have been leaked (how Neptunian is that?), so he was advised to resigned – and did. Hmmmm, strange that those same concerns didn’t lead former President Bill Clinton to resign when he was in a similar pickle a few years back. As you might expect under these sorts of geocosmic signatures, conspiracy theories abound, for after all, this affair had been known before the election, but was held off from public disclosure until just after the election. Why? For that matter, what did President Obama mean when he said last week that now that the election is over, we can begin to have a serious inquiry at what really happened in Benghazi, Libya on September 11, when the U.S. Ambassador was murdered in a terrorist attack on the U.S. embassy? Why did we have to wait nearly two months and until after the election to take a serious look at what really caused the murder of the Ambassador? It all smacks of Mercury turning retrograde and Neptune changing directions – a classic cosmic set up for misinformation, rumors, and possible scandals. With President Obama about to start a two-year period of transiting Neptune forming a T-square to his natal Moon-Pluto square, I don’t think this is going to go away. But as exciting as all this drama is for our prurient American nature, it may pale in importance to the impending “Fiscal Cliff,” a perilous storm that looms ahead and which we have been alerting readers about for the past several months. We are under Mercury retrograde now through November 27. We see politicians saying nice things to each other, such as “We had a very constructive meeting,” “We recognize the need to make compromises,” “I am open to all new ideas.” Yet we know that under Mercury retrograde, the probability that this civility will actually carry forward into a solid agreement is not very high. Uranus is still in the midst of its square to Pluto, and before the end of the month, Mars will be involved too. I wish it weren’t so, but that combination is explosive and more likely the kind of cosmic set up you see when tempers flare out of control. When Mars is with Pluto and square Uranus, politicians don’t play nice and they don’t even try to bend to the ideas of the other side. This is not indicative of a win-win spirit in negotiations. It is a combination that more likely says: “I won, you lost. Now get in line or go home.” True compromise doesn’t mean you changing your position to agree with mine. It means we both adjust our positions and find a point in the middle. But true compromise under a Mars-Pluto conjunction is more akin to coercion and bullying into submission. What is it good for? Research, and getting to the bottom of a matter that has been covered up or hidden. But that is the other story. This one is about a fiscal cliff in which the economy of a nation is about to fall over. The market sensed that in the last week, as equities fell hard. Many indices are now below important moving averages that were supporting the market. And the heavy aspects are still ahead. They are just coming into influence as Mars steps into Capricorn’s domain. Best Trades of the Past Week There were several trades elected on both the weekly and daily reports last week. But perhaps the best were MMA’s Weekly Report on Crude Oil advised, “Aggressive traders may look to buy at 85.00 +/- .50, with a stop-loss on a close under weekly support.” The low of the week was 84.57 and the close was 86.67. Or, MMA Weekly Gold traders were advised, “Position traders may look to buy at 1706 +/- 8.00 if offered, with a stop-loss on a close below 1672.50. Aggressive traders may do the same.” The low was 1704.50. Silver, GLD, and SLV also added on new long positions last week, in both the daily and weekly reports. Short-Term Geocosmics Mars enters Capricorn now, on November 16 or 17, depending on where you are. This is a very important ingress. As discussed before, it has a historical correlation to an escalation of military threats in the Middle East involving Israel. If you have been watching the news, you know this has already begun. As Friday’s Wall Street Journal reported, “Israel pounded the Gaza Strip with planes and artillery for a second straight day and began mobilizing tens of thousands of troops, while Palestinian militants mounted their deepest-ever missile strikes into the heart of Israel.” As Mars approaches Pluto and forms a square to Uranus November 22-27, this dangerous and explosive situation could erupt the closer we get to that time band. And it may involve other areas too, besides the Middle East. In terms of financial markets, this celestial pattern could also coincide with explosive price swings in financial markets. If the USA government isn’t making any progress on solving the Fiscal Cliff (a combination of massive tax increases and spending cuts), and if the tension between Israel and Palestine escalates, stock markets around the world could take a heavy pounding. However, investors probably know that traditionally this period around Thanksgiving in the USA is usually bullish for equities. Thanksgiving will be this Thursday, November 22. Markets will be closed here. Let us hope that there is something to thankful for, and not a war breaking out instead. Longer-Term Thoughts will be resumed once the Forecast 2013 Book is completed.