The Year of Trading Less Dangerously

Randall Ashbourne, an associate of Astrological Investing, posts a weekly market report on his web site, theidiotandthemoon.com The following is this weekend's Eye of RA report: Week beginning January 7, 2013

Hello and welcome to the first weekend report for 2013.

Well, the fiscal cliff morphed into a mirage and all those wavering lemmings lurking at the edge suddenly sprouted wings

The SP500 is now back at the long-range 1468 level it flirted with last September/October, riding a wave of relief and optimism ... and doing it during the "good mood" period between Full Moon and New.

As you know from the long-range planetary charts I published at various intervals last year, it's an important level and a strong breakout above it opens the strong probability the index will hit other predetermined levels.

I won't be publishing any of those long-range charts until at least the second half of the year. And that's because I put a lot of time over the past few weeks, researching and creating those charts and tailoring them to individual stock indices across the world. They're all in Forecast 2013, along with the technical condition of the indices ... and a close examination of how they varied in relation to Moon Trading over the past year.

The Forecast also contains the full list of critical reversal dates likely to be important during 2013 and a month-by-month breakdown of the astrological weather.

For those of you interested in trading gold, there's a chapter I think is both exciting and informative. And I rarely get excited these days!

I confess I've been too busy to keep up with all of the indices since Christmas, but I will get back to them over the next couple of weekends.

Let's begin this weekend by having a look at Pollyanna's Weekly Planets chart. Most of you are already familiar with it from previous Eye of Ra reports and any newbies popping in for a peek inside the fortune teller's tent can find some research material in the Archives.

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I think I'm inclined to call this the second attempt by the 500 to breakout above the primary Neptune line at 1468, rather than the third, since October's effort was so close to the September timeframe.

The oscillator confirms the legitimacy of the rally, regardless of whether it was caused by relief that Congress and the Senate managed to do a deal. There is no negative divergence in the oscillator, so I wouldn't be prepared to view this as a double-top.

As I indicated in last weekend's report, the simple fact of life is that the SP500 remains in an uptrend defined by a rising pitchfork anchored at important highs and lows.

I said last weekend, while discussing the importance of the red, internal Fibonacci angle of the fork:  

"The 500 is approaching that layer once again, with traders unsure whether US politicians can compromise on the tax increases and spending cuts due to start taking effect in January.

While hope remains alive, there's a chance the lower red level will continue to provide support for the rally angle."

Let's go to the close-up ...

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And hope did remain alive and the lower red level did provide support for the rally angle.

It will be necessary now to monitor the price performance over the next few weeks because the media will dine out on one of those interminable Wall Street cliches ... as goes January, so goes the year.

We need to monitor whether and how decisively the Neptune barrier gets broken, as well as watching for signs of divergence developing in the oscillator.

Those of you interested in gold might consider closely monitoring prices for a developing low around the price levels hit on Friday.

I'm going to give you a little tease about the stuff in the Forecast ... gold bounced on Friday after making a hit on a line which should have caused the reaction it did.

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No, no, no ... I'm not going to explain what they are or why I'd have expected that reaction. Forecast 2013 will tell you ... and give you the exact price levels to watch, upside and downside! If you want to know, you'll have to fork up the twenty bucks.

Okay, just a quick look this weekend ... and, yes, indeed, a totally shameless commercial plug!

If I can outlast the heatwave we're having, I'll begin returning to more normal mode next weekend and take a look at some of the other indices.

At the end of this year's Forecast, there's a review of how my critical trend change dates for last year worked out. I'll try to put that review up as a separate article on the website in the next few days.

Safe trading - RA

Astrological Investing's associate, Randall Ashbourne, author of the eBook, The Idiot and The Moon, and The Idiot and the Moon, Forecast 2013, writes a free weekly column titled, The Eye of Ra on his web site in  which he explains the potential impact of astrological aspects and the current state of technical conditions. Ashbourne's charts are revealing illustrations of exactly what has occurred in the market and the probability of what to expect.
Important reading:  Randall Ashbourne's The Idiot and The Moon, Forecast 2013 , Jupiter's cycle and its effects on Wall Street and a posting of the weekly Eye of Ra report in this blog, titled A look at the Venus Retrograde effect
(Disclaimer: This article is not advice or a recommendation to trade stocks; it is merely educational material.)
Copyright: Randall Ashbourne - 2011-2013

Markets diverging across the globe

Randall Ashbourne, an associate of Astrological Investing, posts a weekly market report on his web site, theidiotandthemoon.com The following is this weekend's Eye of RA report: Week beginning December 17, 2012

The Sagittarian Moon produced a brief spike in optimism last week, but north American markets couldn't hold the gains. 

We now have significant divergence building across world indices, with important markets in Europe and Asia topping their September/October peaks.
Wall Street remains captive to the "fiscal cliff" scenario, with big tax increases and spending cuts set to come into effect from the New Year unless a compromise deal is done ... and fast.

Pundits are betting there's only a 25% chance the deal will get done in time, but are still pinning hopes there'll be retrospective legislation in January. Since some of the tax increases affect capital gains, there's a danger of a panic-selling event as traders and investors scramble to unload gains to minimise the tax impact.

There are a couple of major astrological events this week ... Venus trines Uranus and the Sun makes its transition into Capricorn.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that a trine should not be read as either benign or difficult, but that it does imply "the rapid removal of obstacles". So, there is a chance we could see a sudden breakthrough in the talks between President Obama and House Speaker Boehner this week.

In any case, Venus trine Uranus is one of those major aspects with a habit of moving markets; which is understandable since Venus rules money and Uranus has rulership of stock markets.

It is, however, an aspect somewhat more inclined to producing a downturn in prices, rather than a near-term bottom.

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Above is a weekly chart of the SP500 with past instances of the aspect marked with red bars. The last three all produced slumps which lasted for several weeks.

Markets in Europe and Asia are putting in new Highs above the September/October peaks - including the FTSE, the DAX, the Nifty, the STI, Hang Seng, ASX and Japan.

The coming week may well decide if north America joins them - or provides the catalyst for a worldwide decline. We got the normal Sagittarian effect on Tuesday and Wednesday last week, producing a short-lived spike in indices like Pollyanna, the SP500.

Unlike the other markets mentioned, Wall Street and the Nasdaq couldn't hold the new ground - still well below the level of the 3Q peaks.

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Miss Polly pushed up into the twin Saturn zone a few dollars either side of 1440, but dropped back to finish the week still playing around the 1410ish zone marked on her long-range planetary charts. Above is the 500's Weekly Planets chart and the importance of that primary Neptune around 1410 is obvious.

Other indices are still playing within the bounds of the December range charts I published for a broad group of indices in the December 3 edition, available in the Archives.

Forecast 2013

There will be no update next weekend. I'll take this opportunity to thank you all for your interest during the year and wish each of you a happy holiday season.

I'm still researching material for next year's Forecast - but it will contain in-depth chapters on a couple of areas which will be of major interest to some traders.

One of those chapters will be on gold and I'll reveal, I think for the first time anywhere, precisely which planetary price lines set the long and medium term range targets for the price of gold.

I'll also be taking another look at The Moods of The Moon ... specifically which of the world's major stock indices produce the highest profits by trading the monthly lunar cycle. And that's going to be a real surprise!

In the meantime ...

Safe trading - RA

Astrological Investing's associate, Randall Ashbourne, author of the eBook, The Idiot and The Moon, writes a free weekly column titled, The Eye of Ra on his web site in  which he explains the potential impact of astrological aspects and the current state of technical conditions. Ashbourne's charts are revealing illustrations of exactly what has occurred in the market and the probability of what to expect.
Important reading:  Randall Ashbourne's article, Jupiter's cycle and its effects on Wall Street and a posting of the weekly Eye of Ra report in this blog, titled A look at the Venus Retrograde effect
(Disclaimer: This article is not advice or a recommendation to trade stocks; it is merely educational material.)
Copyright: Randall Ashbourne - 2011-2012