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Saturn sells Venus: The Facebook IPO

(Posted May 17, 2012)  The social media giant Facebook finally goes public tomorrow (May 18) as it launches its shares to the public for the first time.  With an opening price of $38 per share, the IPO is likely to make Facebook raise over $20 Billion and make founder Mark Zuckerberg a cool $1.15 Billion when he cashes out a portion of this shares in early trading.  Not bad for a company that started in a Harvard dorm room less than ten years ago.  With almost 1 billion "friends" worldwide, Facebook has revolutionized much of the way we interact with others and think about ourselves in a social context.  Whether or not it is merely a passing fad is harder to say, although I suspect even if it is eventually replaced by some other company (remember Friendster and Myspace?), social networking in our hyperlinked wired world has been forever changed.

From an astrological perspective, the launch of the IPO at this time is particularly telling. What planets would one expect to be prominent at a time when the world's largest social networking site goes up for sale and in splashed all over the headlines?  Well, Venus for starters.  Venus is the planet of social interaction and friendship so it should be noteworthy in some obvious way.  And not surprisingly, it is.  Venus just stationed and turned retrograde on Tuesday May 15.  Whenever a planet stations, it comes to a full stop in the sky from our perspective on Earth.  As a general rule, the slower the planet is moving, the more powerful it becomes in terms of its symbolic associations. Venus only turns retrograde once every two years or so, so this is quite a strong correlation with a prominent and powerful Venus.    Read more...

Weekly Market Forecast for 14 May

Post-election uncertainty in Greece sinks stocks

Stocks got sideswiped by the Greek election last week as the absence of any clear winner again pushed the Eurozone to the brink.  The Dow lost almost 2% closing at 12,820 while the S&P 500 finished at 1353.  Indian stocks suffered deeper losses as falling industrial output in April pushed more investors to the exits.  The Sensex declined 3% closing at 16,292 while the Nifty ended the week at 4928.  This bearish outcome was not unexpected as I thought that Saturn's approaching entry into sidereal Virgo on 18 May would likely be a drag on sentiment.  The late week bounce never fully materialized although most markets did rise on Thursday's bullish Moon-Sun-Jupiter alignment. Those tepid gains disappeared in Friday's session, however.

Europe moved to back into the spotlight last week as election results in France and Greece underlined the unpopularity of austerity.  French President Sarkozy was defeated by the anti-austerity socialist Francois Hollande while the pro-austerity parties in Greece suffered a stinging defeat.  Read more...

Weak US jobs report: Is the recovery running out of gas?

It was a bad week for the economy and a bad week for stocks.  The April jobs report showed that only 115,000 new jobs were created last month which was far below expectations as the recovery gave more signs of running out of gas. The unemployment rate actually fell to 8.1% but only because of all the discouraged workers who gave up looking for work were no longer included in the survey.   More questions are now being raised about the effectiveness of President Obama's policies and the Keynesian effort to stimulate the economy through deficit spending.  Free market critics insist that all that debt the US has incurred trying to kick start the economy hasn't worked as growth continues to limp along at an anemic rate of 2-3%.  They argue that the US would have been better off without any of the bailouts or QE and that the economy would have recovered by now.  Interestingly, there are no shortage of critics on other side who insist that the problem isn't too much spending but rather not enough.  Economist Paul Krugman asserts that the current recessionary phase could be ended quickly if only the government injected another several trillion dollars worth of stimulus.  Who is right?

It may well be an impossible question to answer with any certainty.  No matter how much economics attempts to mimic the practices of the physical sciences, any area of inquiry that concerns human behavior must accept the fact that much of it will simply be unknown.  It therefore demands we accept the notion of probability and relative risk and reward instead of certainty.  There are convenient facts for both sides in this debate.  Read more...

< Weekly Market Forecast for 30 April 

Austerity blamed for EU slowdown;  US stocks rise on strong earnings

As the recovery continues to limp along, there is more talk about austerity.  Tighten your belts.  Cut government spending.  Balance the budget. Raise taxes.  Pay down the debt. The Eurozone has become the poster child for austerity recently as its attempts to right its sinking fiscal ship has produced mass unemployment and falling living standards through much of its southern tier.  Spain's sky-high unemployment has been blamed on EU austerity measures by those on the left, as has the UK's stubbornly low growth since David Cameron's Conservatives took over in 2011.  Austerity has become politicized as uber-Keynesians such as Paul Krugman insist that austerity is counterproductive. He argues that austerity only damages the economy by worsening poverty and unemployment while keeping the benefits of the wealthy elite intact.  He has also recently suggested that Fed Chair Ben Bernanke was unnecessarily prolonging the current slowdown by not supplying more economic stimulus to kick start the moribund US economy. 

Austerity is often controversial because there is always a choice for policymakers.  They can choose to cut their spending and debt or they can borrow more money and risk inflation and their credit rating down the road.  For some countries this isn't much of a choice as borrowing may not be much of an option since high debt levels means ultimately unsustainably high premiums on debt.  While Spain and Greece may be at the precipice where they have less choice in the matter, countries like the UK and the US aren't quite so limited.  Read more...

Aung San Suu Kyi wins historic election in Myanmar

(Posted April 2, 2012)  The Burmese democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi has won an historic victory in by-elections in Myanmar.  As the long-persecuted leader of Myanmar's democratic movement, Suu Kyi has spent twenty years under house arrest since the military government refused to acknowledge her original election victory in 1990.  It is believed that this election result will be allowed to stand by the military as Myanmar slowly opens up to the outside world.   While these by-elections only give her NLD party a small foothold in parliament, this victory may well represent a major turning point in the history of this often troubled and isolated former British colony. 

This election victory and emotional vindication of her lifelong struggle can be seen in her horoscope.  While we do not know her birth time, we do know that she was born on 19 June 1945 in Rangoon. The resulting chart suggests a highly intellectual person: a Moon in sidereal Virgo with the Sun conjunct Mercury in Gemini alongside Saturn and Rahu.  Since Virgo and Gemini are both ruled by Mercury, the planet of intelligence, we can see why Suu Kyi excelled in her education at British universities before returning home to assume the role as unofficial leader of her people.  If we use the Moon as the ascendant, then all of her Gemini planets are in the 10th house of leadership and status -- a nice fit.  As the dispositor of the Moon, Mercury is also appropriately placed in the 10th house with the Sun, the planetary significator of status and power. 
Read more...
Mitt Romney campaign in trouble

(Posted February 20 2012)  After being on cruise control as the frontrunner in the early stages of the Republican nomination campaign, Mitt Romney is now in trouble.  Although he successfully fended off challenges from Rick Perry, Herman Cain, and Newt Gingrich, the GOP establishment pick is now running six points behind conservative Rick Santorum in national polls.  Romney's influential insider contacts and deep pockets have got him this far, but there is no doubt that he has failed to connect with the base of the party. His taxes, wealth and business dealings have come under increased scrutiny, as has his Mormon faith and more moderate policy choices while Governor of Massachusetts.

Romney's chart presents some familiar patterns for success but also contains a number of puzzling placements. First off, his apparently unexciting and cardboard personality.   Romney has been widely seen as a dull and somewhat robotic campaigner who finds it difficult to connect with people on an emotional level.  Normally, we would expect to see a strong Saturn since the ringed-planet often corresponds to a reserved and cautious approach to the outside world.  Romney has Taurus rising, suggesting a steadier approach that inclines him towards a more mainstream approach.  But look at the placement of 1st house lord, Venus.  Venus is placed in Capricorn, a sign ruled by Saturn. Lagnesh Venus is very well placed in the trikona 9th house suggesting a generally fortunate life and a successful father.  Romney is wealthy with a reported net worth of more than $250 million.  His father was governor of the state of Michigan.  Read more...

The astrology of the Norway attacks: Saturn's pivotal role

(Posted July 30, 2011)   On Friday July 22, 2011, Norway was the victim of a home-grown terrorist attack at the hands of a single right-wing extremist.   Intent on fomenting a religious war with Islam, Anders Behring Breivik exploded a bomb in downtown Oslo that killed 8 people and then went on a shooting rampage at a youth camp in nearby Utoya that killed another 69.  It was the deadliest attack by a single gunman in recorded history.  News of the attack and its religious motivation has shocked the normally peaceful and tolerant country.

The transits at the time of the attack illustrate a tell-tale conjunction of Mars with Ketu (South Lunar Node) which often produces sudden eruptions of violence and conflict.   Both Mars and Ketu are malefics and their combination is usually quite volatile and often brings disturbing results.  We can see the key transits at the time of the initial bomb blast at 15:25 also included the Moon which joined this alignment and was in close aspect with Rahu (North Lunar Node). The presence of the Moon ratchets up the intensity of this pattern, although it does not help us locate just where its effects will manifest.    Read more...

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