Beware of the wild bulls, not just in Pamplona!
The bull is raging terribly in the equity markets (biggest rally in 71 years), interestingly for the first time since 2003 a man was killed during the Pamplona Bull Run 2009. I'd like to use this opportunity to explore the highly interesting topic "market synchronicities". From a shamanic perspective, bull and bear are the totem (power) animals for the stock markets. Special events involving these two animals frequently mirror events in the stock indices (source of index picture: stern.de).
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If cattle is carried off by epidemics (e.g. foot-and-mouth disease), then the bull market is dead. However, when bulls are getting dangerous during bullfights, then the bull is king. The connection with money and cattle can also be found in language: the term "pecuniary" comes from the Latin "pecunia" which means cattle. Not surprising, the sign associated is Taurus the bull. This connection can also be demonstrated empirically, e.g. Bill Meridian has found out that the NYSE companies first listed during the Taurus time (approximately April 20 - May 21, sun sign Taurus) perform by far better than all the other 11 signs. A simple Taurus strategy where one owns just Taurus stocks is beating 95-99% of all mutual funds over the long haul! The NYSE, the biggest exchange on the planet, was established on May 17, 1792, the 2nd largest exchange in Tokyo was founded on May 16, 1949, and the largest exchange in Europe, London, was established on May 18, 1901. As you notice, not only are all 3 sun sign Taurus but they were established within just 2 days (image source: Wikipedia). |
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Just the opposite is true for bears: when they are getting out of control and become dangerous for human beings, then a bear market or at least a larger decline in the stock markets is in the making. In contrast, the death of bears discussed widely by the mainstream media is a sign that the bear market is dead (image source: Wikipedia). In my opinion, the bear is ruled by the sign opposing Taurus: Scorpio. |
So bull and bear are more than just interchangeable metaphors for bullish and bearish forces, which is rudimentally explained by Rupert Sheldrake's theory of the morphic fields. Carl Gustav Jung, one of the leading psychologists of the 20th century, coined the term synchronicities (wikipedia):
"Synchronicity is the experience of two or more events which are causally unrelated occurring together in a meaningful manner. In order to count as synchronicity, the events should be unlikely to occur together by chance." One of the best known synchronicity researchers was the physicist and Nobel price laureate Wolfgang Pauli who even intended to connect the numerology of spiritual teachings like the kabbalah with modern physics. Pauli, who was known for his extreme skepticism, experienced synchronicities continuously in his personal life, which even convinced him and stoked up his inquisitiveness. Typically, the number of cases (N) in synchronicities is rather low but the patterns are still against all odds and statistically highly significant (p<0.1%, 1:1000)
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year |
event |
impact on stock markets |
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1929 |
last outburst of foot-and-mouth disease in the US (killed a very large number) |
1929-1932 deepest crash in the history of capitalism (in nominal terms) |
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1966 |
outburst of foot-and-mouth disease in Great Britain (the 1st time in the history of the country a man was also infected) |
in real terms, the Dow Jones didn't take out the 1966 high for decades |
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1987 |
BSE („mad cow disease") was officially defined, first outburst in Great Britain |
Fastest stock market crash in history in October 1987 |
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1993 |
Knut's father was born in December 1993 (see 2007) |
in January 1994 the only bear market 1990-1998 began |
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1995 |
the Pamplona Bull Run kills a man (July) |
Early 1994 through late 1994/ early 1995 the indices were in a mild bear market, 1995-2000 the indices were in a most powerful bull market |
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1997 |
outburst of foot-and-mouth disease in Southeast Asia |
Asian crisis 1997, crash in Southeast Asian indices |
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2000 |
3/24/00 first outburst of foot-and-mouth disease in Japan since 1908, in November Germany follows |
inflation-adjust all-time high of S&P 500 exactly on 3/24/00 |
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2003 |
the Pamplona Bull Run kills a man (July) |
4-year bull market begins in March 2003 |
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2006 |
(a) May 4, 2006 first observation of ‚crazy' bear JJ1 ("Bruno") (b) in late June 2006 JJ1 was shot |
(a) May 5-8, 2006 multi-year highs in Europe & the US and onset of biggest decline in 2-3 years (b) mid-June/ mid-July end of correction |
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2007 |
3/23/07 the sweet & harmless ice bear baby Knut is widely discussed in the mainstream media |
2/21-3/14, 2007 biggest correction since mid-2006 - but still harmless like an ice bear baby |
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2008 |
(a) The first time since the 19th century a circus bear ran away in Germany, the bear was shot. (b) The bear was named Nena, obviously after the German pop band founded in mid-1982 which was present in the media from August 1982 on. |
(a) Bear (!) Stearns was also ‚shot' in March 2008, this also marked the end of the first leg of the bear market and the biggest rally 2007-9 followed. (b) In August 1982 the longest bear market of the 2nd half of the 20th century was over, a secularSecular means historic trends of 5-30years. bull market until 2000 started. |
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2009 |
the Pamplona Bull Run kills a man (July) |
In March 2009 the biggest stock market rally in 71 years started. |