Golden age or golden chains: US stocks capped off an impressive week with the Nasdaq and various segments of the tech sector seeing strong bids. The rally from the April 7 intermediate-term cycle bottom just turned 4 months old, so we may not be far from reaching a point of euphoria here.
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European markets were mixed last week, with Germany showing the most strength out of the major exchanges. The FTSE over in the UK was slightly lower, while the AEX managed to finish up on the week. We continue to see notable strength from markets like Poland, Greece, and Austria, which have been some of the world’s best-performing markets this year.
Aside from the US, the best-performing markets of the week came from Asia, as we saw the Nikkei, the Shanghai Composite, the Hang Seng Index, and the Australian All Ordinaries Index all notch impressive gains.
Precious metals also saw smart rallies. Gold hit a new all-time high after tariffs were announced on imports from Switzerland. Silver still has not made a new high, however.
Cryptocurrencies also saw bids, with Ethereum leading the way higher once again. Although Ethereum has yet to make a new all-time high like Bitcoin has, it’s been one of the strongest-performing assets since April 7. It seems that there is little stopping its bullish momentum at the moment, given that it traded back above $4,000 just this Friday.
What you think golden age or golden chains?
Commodity markets continued to display weakness. Crude Oil closed at a new cycle low, and grains continued to edge lower. Despite inflation not presenting itself in commodity markets, Treasuries struggled and finished lower on the week as well. The Dollar ended the week mixed down against the Euro, but up against the Yen. Don’t be surprised if the USD/JPY carry trade starts accelerating again, either.
Short-term geocosmics
We’re in the final days of the Mercury retrograde period now, and per usual, there have been no shortages of mixed messages surrounding the state of global affairs and the economy. Here we have stock markets within a few percentage points of all-time highs, yet concerns about the economy slipping into a recession continue to grow.
The tension in the near term is amplified by the series of hard aspects between Mars, Saturn, and Neptune. Mars recently ingressed into Libra and is moving into an opposition with those two outer planets, which are in orb of a conjunction in the sign of Aries. More on this below, especially on the Saturn side of things.
Mars is in the sign of Libra, and we have an attempt at a peace deal being made. Trump and Putin are supposed to meet soon, but whether it actually happens and whether it actually bears fruit is another story entirely. For the sake of world peace, hopefully their meeting takes place after Mercury goes direct.
Speaking of Mercury retrograde, we had a series of trade deals between the US and the European Union, and the US and Japan struck under Mercury retrograde. Time will tell as to whether these stick, but it’s safe to say there may be some modifications coming down the line in those agreements.
Mars in Libra, opposing Saturn conjunct Neptune in Aries, is very fitting for peace talks on the Ukraine matter. We’ve heard so many different stories about the progress of the war, and who was “winning” at various points in time. But who really does in these situations? Economic growth based on conquest has always existed, but always at a cost. We know that nothing is free in this universe – someone, somewhere, has to pay.
Despite the tensions to start the weekend, we actually see some positive aspects coming to start next week. There’s a Venus-Jupiter conjunction in the sign of Cancer, and it’s an aspect I like to view as conducive to “civilization building.” Hopefully, we get some civility out of this meeting.
Plus, there’s a sextile between Saturn and Uranus, and even a trine between Mars and Pluto. The leaders will just have to face reality (Saturn) and overcome what’s real and what isn’t (Neptune) if they want to make progress and move toward ending this conflict that’s been ongoing for over three years. This could turn out to be good news for the stock market’s rally, which just turned 4 months old last week, but don’t be surprised if it turns into a case of “buy the rumor, sell the news” either.