Great Forbes Article on Financial Astrology
"J.P. Morgan once famously said that millionaires don’t need astrologers, but billionaires do. Are we in charge of the economic matters on earth, or are invisible forces out there shaping the economic and social outcomes of individual nations? J.P. Morgan thought there was more to the market than timing, and he used astrologers to help guide him in that timing in his businesses and investments. He’s not alone.
Raymond Merriman has been at this for more than 30 years. His Michigan based company, MMA Cycles has over 7,000 subscribers, many of them from well-known investment banks and broker-dealers. They’re portfolio managers, certified financial planners and heads of trading firms primarily from New York, Chicago, Tokyo to Zurich. Some know a thing or two about astrology. Others are looking for a little extra-terrestrial advice.
“They come for my analysis on various markets based on planetary cycles, pattern recognition and geocosmic market turning points,” he said. “Most of them all understand the market, but they don’t have this kind of edge on market timing.”
Analysts like Merriman use complex planetary charts to decipher where an economy, or investment, is heading. It’s approach, like fundamental or technical analysis, can be either top down — a big picture look at the whole economy — or bottom up — which examines an individual company.