Astrologer-Analyst Foretells Dark Days On Wall Street Eclipse Will Touch Off Correction

It’s time again for Arch Crawford, the market forecaster who combines stargazing with technical analysis to produce forecasts certain to make the savviest investor blink.

Crawford, despite the voodoo nature of his work, continues to get extremely high ratings from those who track stock market newsletter forecasts. He publishes a slim monthly newsletter that frequently places him at or near the top of the ratings.

But before discussing current events, Crawford, 54, was eager to correct a springtime error. In February, he saw trouble in May and June. But by April, he realized the danger was not as serious. He never actually told subscribers to sell. But he also warned them of the fall collapse we may soon see.

As the months passed, he told them to not only buy, but go “200 percent” - that is, using borrowed money, or margin, investors were to employ maximum purchasing power. That was prescient, since the markets have gained 20 to 40 percent this year.

But things have changed. Although he expected a strong upward thrust in October, that all is to evaporate, beginning Tuesday.

“We get the solar eclipse on the 24th,” Crawford said. An international incident, probably involving the Arabs, will ignite a monthlong market plunge of from 200 to 2,000 points.

Here are some of the dreadful omens:

The amount of cash available in mutual funds is at a 16-month low, a negative because it demonstrates how overinvested we are; high-tech leadership in the market is falling; corporate insiders are selling more shares; the number of initial public offerings and mergers is rising; put-option buying by investors betting against a rise is declining, another contrary sign; and new daily stock highs vs. new lows is declining.

A drop of 2,000 points is roughly the percentage ground lost in the 1972-74 bear market.

“We’re long overdue for something like that,” Crawford said.