If you were expecting some kind of sun sign nonsense, forget it. This is real astrology. See the section above. Please note: this forecast is expressed in terms of Universal Time (UT).

I told you to "expect heavy weather and moderate to severe seismic activity (including Richter 5+ earthquakes as well as volcanic eruptions) to make headlines off and on just about all month; but especially between the 3rd and 17th and the 21st and 27th." And in particular I mentioned the Middle East as one of the vulnerable zones during the June 21-27 full moon risk period. So it could not have come as a surprise when a powerful earthquake rocked Iran on the 22nd, killing 500 people and injuring 1,500. Measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale, the temblor was centered 130 miles west of Tehran.

While allowing that major terrorist atrocity or outright war could screw the pooch, I otherwise anticipated that major world markets would be "trending modestly upward in June." Terrorist attacks and threats were practically omnipresent throughout the month, and even the threats were enough to send averages plummeting. Poor pooch, screwed big time.

I also warned of downside risk due to "dubious or otherwise disturbing financial reports around the 21st," and hit the mark fairly nicely on that one. As it turned out, that was the day when WorldCom's then-CFO Scott Sullivan had to appear before the company's board to explain some gargantuan accounting irregularities. The meeting continued over the weekend, and on the 24th the board fired Sullivan, and went public with news of funny money accounting in the amount of $3.8 billion. Formerly one of the telecommunications industry leaders, WorldCom now teeters on the verge of bankruptcy, and its stock (now worth only pennies per share) faces de-listing from the Nasdaq exchange. Major markets the world over have been on an overall bear tear ever since.