It’s interesting to look at the history of the rise of the DJIA.  In November 1972 the average rose about 1,000 for the first time ever.  In November 1995 the average closed above 5,000 for the first time, a 400% increase that averages 17% per year.  By March of 1999, with Pluto in Sagittarius, the Dow had risen to 10,000, a 25% per year increase, and October 2006 saw the Dow above 12,000 for the first time despite an intervening tech bubble and terrorist attack that weakened the markets.  

If we take the average of the Dow Jones index from the 1972 price point of 1,000 to Friday’s close at 8,000 we still have an average increase of 19% per year which is extremely reasonable by anyone’s standards.  The fact that we are considering 8,000 a low point in the market despite this steady and solid increase in the average shows the kind of ridiculous expectations along with the extreme highs of the Pluto in Sagittarius period and its relentless optimism®.

At any rate, over the past few days the Moon has been in Virgo where it is more conservative and favors thrift over investment, and on Friday the Moon approached a conjunction to Saturn, the planet of restriction and negative expectations, driving the mood of investors into a melancholic depression that will have passed by the time the markets open on Monday.  By that time the Sun will have moved into Sagittarius where it will conjunct both Mercury and Mars which are already in Sag, and the mood will be much more optimistic.

The New Moon on November 27th is in Sagittarius where it will conjunct Mercury and Mars as I wrote a few days ago, and this combination of planets will provide us with a fiesta of optimism.  On that day Uranus will turn direct, and Ray Merriman reports that when the planets change direction they always bring a reversal in the markets, either up or down. But Pluto arrives at 0 degrees Capricorn on the same day, placing us firmly in the challenging economic period that we have all expecting.  

Planetary cycles have a global reach, and the Asian and European markets were strong yesterday despite the drop in the US stocks, and I suspect that next week we will see a bit of schizophrenic optimism and depression as the Sagittarius New Moon collides with the brutal realism of Pluto in Capricorn, and Uranus’s change of direction brings erratic swings in both directions.  

The 27th is the Thanksgiving holiday and the markets will be closed that day, so I suspect that the optimism will prevail over the few days before the holiday. When the markets reopen after the US holiday reality is likely to rule once again and the markets will correct to reflect this.