(26 July 2026) Stocks slumped again last week as renewed hostilities between Iran and US sent oil prices back over $90.  The increase in oil prices reawakened reignited fears as bond yields rose ahead of this week's FOMC meeting.  As usual, the NASDAQ took the biggest hit although the beaten-up semiconductor sector actually posted a small gain. The decline was not unexpected.  While stocks rose in the early week on the exact July 21 alignment of Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, the impact of the double-station near-square of Mercury and Saturn was felt later in the week.  As noted in previous posts, the July 23 direct station of Mercury while in a near-square alignment with Saturn was more likely to coincide with some downside. Our backtest of previous similar alignments suggested this was a bearish influence, especially given the retrograde station of Saturn on July 26. The resulting double-station near-square of Mercury and Saturn has a very bearish track record as shown below in the updated cumulative trend chart.  Although Mercury-Saturn squares are quite common and occur at least twice a...