Taking the Plunge:  Mr. Trump’s Wild Market Ride

By Alex Miller

After the US stock markets closed on Wednesday, 2 April 2025, President Donald Trump announced the imposition of his much-touted “beautiful” tariffs, dubbing the event “Liberation Day.”  Tariffs were applied to virtually every nation on the globe, some as steep as 49%, on all goods imported into the US.  Investor reaction was swift; by Friday the Dow Jones Industrial Average had shed some $5 trillion in value, down 7.9% for the week, and the selloff was repeated in all major global markets, roiling the financial world.

That the second Trump administration might be a period of fiscal loss and economic hardship is prefigured in the astrology chart for the January 20^th Inauguration, which features a close conjunction of Venus (17 Pisces), ruler of finances, and Saturn (16 Pisces), arbiter of limitation or restriction, accompanied by asteroid Donn (also at 17 Pisces), representing US President Donald Trump.  This mix points directly to Donald Trump (Donn) as the proximate cause of the financial (Venus) contraction (Saturn), and is semisquare (45 degrees) to the administration’s Sun/Pluto conjunction (0 and 1 Aquarius), making it self-defining (Sun), and adding the potential for a devastating outcome (Pluto).  The Sun with Pluto promotes an attitude of manipulation and control (Pluto), and a desire for power (also Pluto), via means which involve the dismantling, destruction, and rebuilding (all Pluto) of existing systems, all as the core raison d’etre of the administration (Sun).

How this might be accomplished, on a financial level, is seen in Mercury (18 Capricorn), ruler of commerce and negotiation, staring down Mars (24 Cancer), ruling conflict, in opposition (180 degrees) from across the zodiac, a combination that spells Trade (Mercury) War (Mars) in no uncertain terms.  Those who would be most affected by this conflict is portrayed by the Moon (18 Libra), representing the general populace, who will shoulder the burden of increased costs, forming a T-Square with this polarity, squared (90 degrees) both ends, placing the people effectively “in the middle” of Trump’s tariff wars.

These patterns set the stage for the current imbroglio, triggered by Mercury’s station and apparent backward movement when it turned retrograde (signaling regressive (retrograde) trade policies (Mercury) – this level of tariff hasn’t been seen in the US since the late 1800s) on March 15^th (at 9 Aries), squared Donald Trump’s birth Mercury (8 Cancer), prompting action (square) and deployment of his ideas and plans (Mercury).  The station was supercharged by a Solar Eclipse which followed at the same degree on March 29^th; just four days later, on April 2^nd, Trump enacted his scheme.

The Sun that day (13 Aries) is narrowing its gap with asteroid Donn (21 Aries), moving into a conjunction which puts the US President (Donn) and his actions even more firmly in the spotlight (Sun) than usually.  Trump seems to be reveling in the attention, enthusing about the dozens of countries which supposedly are now queueing up to make trade deals, and, in his words, “Kiss my ass.” 

The Sun is also in a trine aspect (120 degrees) with a pairing of asteroids Plunge and Liberati (at 13 and 19 Sagittarius), which depicts the sudden, steep drop (Plunge) in markets resulting from the Liberation Day (Liberati) unveiling of the harsh tariff regime.  Plunge and Liberati are squared to asteroid Icarus (19 Pisces), a symbol of rash, reckless action, taken heedless of the consequences and in the teeth of contrary advice, resulting in disaster.

Further, asteroid Liberati is embedded at station, about to turn retrograde, signaling an outsized importance or impact from Liberation Day.  Also at station, asteroid Swings (29 Leo), conjoined asteroid Markert (27 Leo, closest to “market”), both sesquiquadrate (135 degrees) the Sun, underscoring the wild fluctuations (Swings) in global markets (Markert) that resulted, as investors waffled between panic at the new rules and hope that they might be temporary, scrutinizing every utterance and social media post by the notoriously fickle president for signs of future intent.  Market turmoil may be a feature of the entire Trump administration, not a bug, given that the Markert/Swings conjunction is also in effect for the inauguration, exact at that time, sesquiquadrate the Sun, and with Swings at station.

Title Image credit: generated by Craiyon