I had this question in my mind today, and upon examination, no it does not. Going back to the inception of the S&P 500, over the course of the retrograde cycle the Market usually ends the retrograde moving up.
I was running under the assumption that Venus Retrograde in Aries was a Bearish factor. I think this assumption was coming from the association of Venus with Money and finances, and retrograde with things going backwards, but after examining the data, it is just not the case that Venus Retrograde produces a bear market. Venus is in detriment in Aries, so that may also have led me to a false conclusion. One factor I may have not thought through is most Venus retrogrades in Aries end up with Venus in Pisces where it is exalted.
Take a look.
S&P 500 Performance During Venus Retrograde in Aries (1957–2025)
Venus has gone retrograde in Aries on a roughly 8-year cycle. Since the S&P 500 index began in 1957, there have been 8 such periods up through 2017 (with the next in 2025). Below we identify each Aries retrograde window (40–44 days) and how the S&P 500’s price-only index moved between the start and end dates:
1961 (Mar 20 – May 2, 1961) – Increase. S&P 500 rose from the mid-60s to upper-60s. (For reference, it was ~64.1 on Mar 1 and ~66.5 by May 1.) This Venus retrograde cycle ended up with Venus still solidly in Aries, so the sign the retrograde ends up in does not seem to be a factor.
1969 (Mar 18 – Apr 29, 1969) – Increase. S&P 500 climbed from around 99 to ~104. (Mar 1: 99.3; May 1: 104.6.) Again, the retrograde ended with Venus in Aries.
1977 (Mar 16 – Apr 27, 1977) – Decline. S&P 500 slipped from about 100 to 98. (Mar 1: 100.6; May 1: 98.8.) Venus went direct in Aries here too.
1985 (Mar 13 – Apr 25, 1985) – Increase. S&P 500 rose from ~179 to ~185. (Mar 1: 179.4; May 1: 184.9.) Venus went direct in Aries here.
1993 (Mar 11 – Apr 22, 1993) – Decline. S&P 500 was roughly flat to slightly down (around the mid-440s to mid-430s). (It fell from 450.2 on Mar 1 to 443.1 by Apr 1.) Venus went direct at 3.0 Aries.
2001 (Mar 9 – Apr 20, 2001) – Increase. S&P 500 rebounded from the low 1180s to the mid-1200s. (Mar 1: 1185.8; May 1: 1270.4.) Venus went direct at 1º Aries.
2009 (Mar 6 – Apr 17, 2009) – Increase. S&P 500 surged off the 2009 bear-market low, from ~676 up toward the 800s. (It jumped from 757.1 on Mar 1 to 902.4 by May 1.)Venus has started going direct in Pisces, and we get a bull surge.
2017 (Mar 4 – Apr 15, 2017) – Decline. S&P 500 edged down a bit, from the mid-2300s to low-2300s. (It was 2,366 on Mar 1 and ~2,359 by Apr 1, dipping slightly through mid-April.) But here Venus does not bull surge after going direct in Pisces.
Overall Outcome: In these eight Venus-in-Aries retrograde periods, the S&P 500 rose 5 times and declined 3 times. In other words, about 62.5% of the time the market gained, vs 37.5% of the time it fell during these ~6-week intervals. Historically, the price moves were often modest, though there are notable cases (e.g. 2009’s +27% rally off the bottom). This suggests no consistent bearish effect – the S&P has been more likely to rise than fall during Venus retrogrades in Aries, based on past data.
When engaging in financial astrology, it is extremely important to question one’s priors and assumptions. If you are interested in subscribing to my weekly financial astrology newsletter, which tracks intraday market fluctuations of the S&P 500 as well as general trends, you can do so by clicking the button below.
