With the Winter Solstice this weekend, we are entering the month of the year when I usually like to see crests forming in markets rising into this time band. This is the period when the Sun transits the sign of Capricorn. The sign for Capricorn is a goat on top of the peak of a mountain, and that has always held a strong meaning for me. Yet, there is something more important taking place this year: we’ve got the Sun, Venus, and Mercury all hurling towards a conjunction with Mars in January 2026. All four planets will form a conjunction in a short period of time between January 6 and 18.
The last time all four planets formed a conjunction in a short period was August 1987. The planets formed a tight conjunction as part of a grand trine aspect with Jupiter and Neptune, and as the Moon joined them, the DJIA recorded its 18-year crest on August 25, 1987. The DJIA went on to drop 41.2% over 8 weeks, forming the 18-year trough.
Could we see a repetition as the New Moon joins the stellium on January 18? The inner planets and the luminaries will be trine Uranus and in sextile to the Saturn-Neptune conjunction. They will form a conjunction with Pluto a few days later. If a crest is to form, history tells us that we could see a very sharp move down. Will the crest form in equity markets, or could we see it transpire in another market? Other than the equities, which market is rising into its 18-year crest? Silver!
In Iran, we celebrate the eve of the winter solstice as the Night of Yalda. The word Yalda means birth. As the longest night of the year, it has long been associated with the rebirth of light. Light itself is linked to the Creator, from whom we are said to have been separated and to whom we shall one day return. This idea is beautifully captured in a poem by Saʿeb Tabrizi:
“On this night of Yalda, the hope of dawn comes to mind,
So my gaze will not falter in the darkness of your absence.
Though this evening of separation is long and hard to bear,
The morning of reunion will come — and this cage will break.\"