March 14, 2008 

In watching the U.S. chart I follow, the one for the signing of the Articles of Confederation, November 15, 1777..12:46 PM..York Pennsylvania, I have been writing about the ongoing U.S. financial problems, as shown in the chart, as they continue to unfold.

In previous articles, we saw how the beginning of the sub prime mortgage mess started last July, as the progressed U.S. Sun moved up to 11 degrees of Cancer (homes) to conjoin the natal U.S. north node. It has now moved up to 12 Cancer 03 and is closing in on the opposition to U.S. Mars at 12 Capricorn 23. And with the Mars (which rules fire) connection, isn't it interesting that as more and more people are foreclosed on, many of them are burning their homes down!

I have also been writing about the drastic implications the progressed U.S. Moon moving up slowly to 09 Scorpio 43 (banks and financial markets) to conjoin natal U.S. Mercury (ruler of the 5th house of the stock market which will be exact on March 18-19) will have. It is in the financial 8th house and still squaring progressed Venus in the 6th at 08 Leo 38. And notice that progressed Venus is only 3 minutes from exactly squaring progressed Saturn.

The U.S. natal chart is the inside wheel. The progressed chart is the middle wheel and the transits are in the outside wheel.

 Prior to Tuesday's monster 416-point Dow rally, the Global markets - not just the US - were panicked, possibly on the verge of a crash. US financial stocks were the primary focus of the fear. On the Monday before the Federal Reserve's  latest action, bank & financial stocks were in the grips of mini-crashes of their own.

The Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund, (XLF) was down 4%, Citibank  down 6%, Leman Bros.  down 7%, Bear Stearns  down 11%, Freddie Mac  and Freddi Mae down 11.5% and 13%, respectively. And these were just single day (3/10/2008) moves!

Measured from their 52-week highs to Monday's lows, the declines for these financials have been bloody: XLF down 39%, C down 65%, LEH down 48%, BSC down 62%, FRE down 76%, and FNM down 74%. Clearly, the financials weren't anticipating a crash - the crash has already occurred.

And by today, Bear Stearns was in such poor shape, they were forced to turn to the Fed for emergency funds. They got short-term financing from the Federal Reserve and J.P. Morgan Chase  after the brokerage firm's liquidity "deteriorated significantly" during the past 24 hours. J.P. Morgan said it's providing Bear with secured funding for up to 28 days, in conjunction with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. J.P. Morgan also said it's working with Bear to secure permanent financing or "other alternatives" for the brokerage firm.

Wall Street could be taking some tough medicine for the current market turmoil, if Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has his
way. On Thursday, he prescribed several steps to strengthen federal oversight of the mortgage and credit markets. Paulson called for a complete overhaul of the market for mortgage derivatives and more stringent licensing requirements and standards for mortgage lenders.

The Federal Reserve and other leading central banks doubled the amount of money they're willing to lend to banks and bond dealers. The new temporary lending program will let bond-market participants swap the mortgage-backed securities that they can't currently sell for highly liquid Treasurys that they can. The hope is that the extra money in the financial system will restore trust and keep prices of illiquid securities from plunging.

Citigroup Inc. is injecting $1 billion into two internal municipal bond hedge funds that were hit hard by recent disruptions in fixed-income markets. ASTA Finance, LLC and MAT Finance, LLC were launched in 2002, and the two funds had roughly $2 billion in capital and through leverage, or borrowed money, had about $15 billion in assets. The normally placid muni bond market has been thrown into turmoil, and some muni arbitrage hedge funds were forced to sell assets to meet margin calls.

Carlyle Capital, the bond fund affiliated with private-equity firm Carlyle Group, is on the verge of collapse after failing to agree to a new financing deal with lenders. Late Wednesday, the fund (NL:86522) (CARTF) said it expects lenders will soon take possession of "substantially all" its remaining assets after it was unable to meet surging margin calls on its portfolio of residential-mortgage-backed securities.

All  of this bad news is intensifying fears of a widening global credit crunch. The Federal Reserve is trying to stem the crisis, but it may not be enough to combat both a recession  and a  continuing credit crisis (which I also predicted at the end of last year.) Some pundits are not talking about a recession these days, but at this point, they are predicting a depression!

There are a few other aspects coming up and putting their two cents in, as well. On the 18th and 19th, the transiting Sun comes up to 28 Pisces and forms a mutable grand cross with natal Neptune at 28 Virgo 43 in the natal U.S. 7th house, and the progressed U.S. nodes at 28 Gemini 59 and Sagittarius respectively which conjoin the U.S. 5th and 11 house cusps.

Transiting Neptune (oil-$111 a barrel on Thursday) at 23 Aquarius forms another T-square  with the U.S. Sun at 23 Scorpio 46 in the 9th house of foreign countries and the transiting Moon in Leo in the 7th at the close of the business day on the 18th. That looks like more trouble in River City for banks and the financial markets to me. And with these other aspects manifesting next week, is it the time the other shoe will drop?

Besides the effects of the aspects that are unfolding in the U.S. chart that we have already looked at, it is important to note that the price of gold has moved up to $1000 in the last few days; easily passing up its old high of $850 back in January1980. This is tied into the repeating cycle of Saturn in Virgo ..but then, examining and comparing these two cycles is material for a whole other article; which will be coming soon!