One interesting byproduct of Pluto in Sagittarius has been the globalization (Sagittarius) of our shared money systems (Pluto) such as the stock market and banking in general. Financial markets all over the world are linked, and a sudden liquidity crisis in the financial markets and banks are creating an element of fear in the global financial world. Still, many voices out there are determinedly optimistic, citing the strong and growing economies virtually everywhere in the world.

The relentless rise of the stock market of the Jupiter/Pluto passage through Sagittarius is hitting some rocky bumps. Ignoring the reality of market fundamentals, the optimistic rise of the stock markets have continued unabated over the past few years despite the gloomy predictions of astrologers during the Saturn/Jupiter squares of last year and recent eclipses. With Saturn on my Sun I am not much of a gambler, and last week when the US stock market fell over 100 points I sold about half of my stock portfolio, only to regret it when those stocks rallied and climbed ever higher.

As an astrologer, though, I see this ever-increasing stock market as symbolic of the overreaction of Jupiter and Sagittarius to which reality at some point must come to the party. For one thing, China is gobbling up all of the US debt it can swallow (some sources say China owns $900 billion in US bonds which is 44% of the entire US debt, much of which is caused by the war). China is now threatening to use that leverage for political advantage in response to US threats of trade tariffs.

Once again we see how the determined optimistic expansion of Pluto in Sagittarius is setting the stage for problems when Pluto enters Capricorn and begins to break down and rebuild the structures (Capricorn) on which we depend.

Studying astrological correlations to the stock market have shown me that you can’t predict what will happen based on the planets – there are too many variables. Each company has a chart of its own, and the chart of the CEO and other leaders affects what happens within the company. There’s the chart of the investor, and the charts of nations whose financial health depends on healthy markets. But if I were going to make a prediction I would watch for the eclipse at the end of August that includes a mutable grand cross which can signify energy leaks that would not help the global financial situation.