Hansen's February 2026 paper Physics-Based Forecasts of Investment Sentiment proposes that shifts in investor optimism and pessimism correlate with heliocentric planetary orbital geometry, sunspot activity, and Schumann resonance stability, rather than solely with economic news. The clock of investor sentiment is a roughly 90° Sun–vertex angle (86°–94°) between the Mercury–Saturn center, weighted by tidal force (T ∝ m/r³), and the Jupiter–Neptune center, with weights fitted in December 2000 to Hansen's Market Resilience Index (MRI). Clusters of these configurations define Anxiety-Free Periods (AFPs)—multi-month stretches of investor optimism—that typically fade when the final 90° column expires (plotted orange in charts below).
Geometry of the Inner Orbital Center (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn) and the Outer Orbital Center (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune; Jupiter and Saturn sit in both centers): two mass-weighted planetary-group centers with the Sun at the vertex. When the angle is near 90° (Hansen uses 86°–94°), an AFP column is active, plotted as orange bars/columns in the US Stock Market Price Level chart below.
Physics Times the Turn; Economics Sizes the Move
Across thirteen AFPs from 1933–2024, the average cumulative gain is about 28%, followed by a 13% post-peak decline—near the 98th and 95th percentiles of duration-matched history. Physics is proposed to time the turn; economics to size it.
Thirteen AFPs, named by the year of the price peak (1933-2024, exact dates in the chart above): geometry window = first 90° event through last 90° event; prior/post lows and returns are his market annotations (visually dated orange on the DJIA chart below). Average prior low is about 2½ months before the first event. The fourteenth cluster is the 2026 AFP (not in the 1933–2024 sample). Appendix U dates its 90° Fridays as Apr 24–May 22, 2026; Aug 07–Sep 18, 2026; and Nov 20–Dec 04, 2026. There is no completed peak/post-low for that episode yet.
A century of prices with orange AFP columns; column height represents intensity.
Each column is one 90° configuration event. A cluster of those bars is one Anxiety-Free Period.
2026 has three columns (late April–May, August–September, November–December).
Pre-peak ("boom") and post-peak ("bust") cumulative returns for the thirteen Anxiety-Free Periods since 1933, with empirical percentile ranks based on duration-matched periods in the full weekly Dow Jones Industrial Average history. The ranks measure the share of same-duration historical periods with less extreme returns. High percentiles show that gains consistently fall in the extreme tail, while declines do so in most cases.
From Orbital Angles to Schumann Standing Waves to Human Physiological Entrainment
Market impact is attributed not to the angle itself, but to a four-step causal chain ending in Schumann-type modes, the Earth's ionospheric waveguide ringing at approximately 8, 14, and 21 Hz. A 90° configuration is hypothesized to laminarize solar emissions, stabilize ionospheric height, and lock global standing-wave frequencies near 14–21 Hz; this coherence is then linked to analytical optimism, with overlap in the 13–30 Hz EEG band.
Hypothesized causal mechanism for Anxiety-Free Periods. The diagram proposes a causal chain from solar-system geometry through solar emissions, ionospheric stability, global electromagnetic standing waves, and human physiological entrainment. It is repeated at the start of each section, highlighting the relevant step; here, Element 1 is highlighted.
Established Space-Weather Physics and Speculative Solar-Geometry Links
Stabilized solar output and ionospheric height extend accepted space-weather physics; the solar-geometry and cognition links remain speculative. Intensity scales with outer-group clustering, measured by Sun-to-outer-center distance, which is offered as the reason 1937 and 1987 were violent while 2006 was mild. Intensity is already represented by the column heights in the US Stock Market Price Level chart above.
Ap Index, F10.7, and Sunspots as Fellow Travelers
The same geometry used to time AFPs is associated with tighter co-movement among Ap Index, F10.7, sunspots, and Oulu neutron-monitor counts when the outer planets cluster. Geomagnetic and radio-flux series are treated as companions of standing-wave stability rather than as separate daily trading signals.
Correlations of Solar Energy Metrics by High Intensity and Low Intensity Weeks.
Ap, F10.7, sunspots, and Oulu neutrons co-move more tightly when the outer group is clustered.
The Frozen Eight-Driver Orbital Model
An eight-driver orbital model—six frozen orbital-geometry factors covering planet-group angles, distances, and clusters, plus the predicted AFP and M-Spike series—was calibrated through late 2000 and then frozen. Using NASA coordinates alone, it forecasts the 14-week RSI from December 2000 through April 2024. Here, 14-week RSI means Wilder's Relative Strength Index calculated on weekly bars with a 14-week lookback: Hansen's proxy for multi-month price momentum and investor sentiment, rather than the more common 14-day RSI. The M-Spike is a short-term orbital-geometry factor—not an RSI or an AFP—computed from planet-group positions and read on DJIA/S&P prices as a multi-week M pattern: lift, mid-dip, rebound, and fade. About 88% of predicted turns match actual turns within ±1 week, versus a chance baseline near 0.25% (p < 0.001).
Frozen-model path versus realized RSI and log price; the 88% out-of-sample test begins here.
When Price Rises but Sentiment Does Not
When actual RSI runs below the geometry path, as in 2007–08, Hansen interprets the divergence as economically driven pessimism despite rising prices. Pre- and post-event weekly returns around 26 individual 90° events differ less than 0.01% (
p < 0.0001).
Predicted and Actual 14-week RSI, Periods A and B. Arrow A marks the 2007–08
actual-RSI divergence below geometry; B marks an AFP in which both rise together.
The Limited Schumann-Resonance Test
Usable standing-wave data exist only from June 2015 through December 2021. However, it is not a published Schumann-resonance product. Hansen built the series himself from British Geological Survey magnetometer records at Eskdalemuir, Scotland. Within that window, the predicted 2017 AFP series is associated with frequency stability in modes 2–3 (
p < 0.001), although R² is only about 0.05—the most direct test of standing-wave market impact, but also the thinnest.
US stock-market price and indicators for the 2017 Anxiety-Free Period and M-Spike episodes, June 05, 2015–December 31, 2021. The chart overlays market price, episode indicators, and ellipses A–D marking notable relationships between price patterns and episodic signals. It also shows modes 2 and 3 electromagnetic standing-wave stability, measured on weekends from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. local time and lagged approximately two weeks.
Sunspots as the Longer Proxy
Solar activity is more stable during 21 of 26 90° events and more often declines by day +21 after an event ends. Shorter geometry-defined M-Spikes (53 cases, 1940–2023) show weaker weekly-return significance (
p ≈ 0.19).Mega Cycle and Phase 1 Valuations
The same inner–outer angle maps onto a four-phase Mega Sentiment Cycle. Phase 1, from 0° to the AFP at 90°, has accounted for about 32% of weeks since 1942 but 53% of returns, with higher S&P 500 P/E ratios but no corresponding growth differential.
Mega Sentiment Cycle (2004–2027), showing its four phases, the timing of Anxiety-Free Periods, and the changing Inner Center–Sun–Outer Center angle. Stock Index Price refers to the DJIA, S&P 500, or related ETFs.
How Panic Is Supposed to Spread
A Geoffrey Moore-style adoption model divides the market into Pioneers (~15%), Early Majority (~35%), Late Majority (~35%), and Laggards (~15%). Micro geometry is said to move the Pioneers, while the Mega cycle moves the slower half. During Phase 1, roughly half the market remains optimistic, so valuation alone is judged unlikely to force a crash larger than 30%.
The 2026 Live Overlap
Phase 1 of Hansen's Mega Sentiment Cycle—the long inner–outer angle from 0° up to the next AFP at 90°—runs from autumn 2022 until the first 90° column of 2026, projected for late April–May, with peak geometry-driven euphoria in late May, a second lift by early August, and a third close in early December. A moderate M-Spike overlaps the first column, making April–June the unstable hinge.
The chart (December 06, 2024 to January 01, 2027) shows the US stock-market price level (log) through July 18, 2025—the analysis date—along with the drivers of the three 90° configuration events comprising the 2026 Anxiety-Free Period and the M-Spike as of June 2025. Forward map showing the three 2026 AFP columns, overlapping M-Spike, May peak, and June hinge. US Stocks refers to the DJIA, S&P 500, or related ETFs.
2026 AFP Map and the Boom-Then-Fade Hypothesis
Hansen's sketch is: enter several weeks before an AFP, hold through the cluster high, exit on the Micro Market Resilience Index; he prefers equal-weight S&P 500 or the DJIA as cleaner sentiment gauges. That is a multi-month calendar, not a daily trigger and not proof that high valuations cannot break.
2026 is one such labeled window: three separate 90° columns, not a continuous anxiety-free bid into year-end. The first and strongest was late April–May (peak late May). An overlapping M-Spike made April–June the hinge—historically a dip zone, not a melt-up. A weaker second lift was dated August–September. The third column, late November–early December, ends the cluster; Hansen's average script is a boom during the bars and about −13% after the peak. 2006 barely rose, so an AFP is not a guarantee of higher prices. November–December is the close of the episode, not "anxiety-free until Christmas."
Use that map to watch whether price, Ap, sunspots, and standing-wave stability follow the boom-then-fade pattern. For next-week risk keep short-horizon Ap/Kp and real-time L1 solar wind—those still have skill. The Schumann link rests on one AFP and ; 2026 is the live joint test of cavity-mode coherence, solar-metric co-movement, and that price script. Do not size as if the mechanism were already proven. Hansen's paper is research, not investment advice.
Reference:
Jeffrey A. Hansen is founder of CPM Investing LLC and an asset-allocation researcher who began in geophysics and natural-resource exploration, later evaluating quantitative investment managers at Russell Investments, advising investment firms on technology adoption and product development, managing global multi-asset funds at Nikko AM America, and since 2015 specializing in asset-allocation research and ETF model portfolios for individual investors.
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S&P 500 vs. Hansen's "Micro Driver" (data input and formula undisclosed), digitized from the weekly chart in his August 7 forecast above and plotted against the daily S&P 500 for clarity. The "Micro Driver" path shows rising prices into Sep 4 (Fri), a trough around Oct 2 (Fri), followed by a higher peak around Oct 16 (Fri), a trough on Nov 27 (Fri), and a weaker bounce into Dec 25 (Fri).
Hansen Anxiety-Free Periods 1933-2051
The model uses two planetary centers of gravity: the Inner Orbital Center, a weighted mix of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn, and the Outer Orbital Center, a weighted mix of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, with a line from the Sun to each center. Hansen's AFP clock is simply how close the opening angle is to a right angle. He counts a "column" when it falls between 86° and 94°. Because the inner planets move quickly, the angle wobbles in and out of the band, so an AFP is usually a handful of orange bars or columns spread over a few months, not one solid year. To calculate Hansen's Anxiety-Free Periods through 2051, his published weights and NASA/JPL planetary positions were used.
Hansen AFPs, 1933–2051: Orange columns mark weeks of Anxiety-Free Periods, when the Sun–vertex angle between the inner (Mercury–Saturn) and outer (Jupiter–Neptune) planet-group centers (black curve in the lower panel) falls within the 86°–94° band; column height quantifies the number of weeks within the band. The upper panel overlays AFPs with a black line showing detrended DJIA weekly closing values. Looks pretty random. Hardly something worth betting the farm on.
There are 16 clusters from 1935 to 2051. After the current 2026 AFP, the next full cluster is November 2032–July 2033. Then comes a long empty stretch: the angle falls toward 0° (the two centers lined up) and does not re-enter the band until a weak July 2050 graze and a full 90° column in January 2051. Gaps with no AFPs are 2027–31 and 2034–49.
2026 Real-World Test: Watch Timing Window. Respect Uncertainty. Never Bet the Farm.
The orange AFP columns are a real, rebuildable orbital clock. However, they are not a price clock. The Dow's detrended path already has its own slow waves—wars, inflation, bubbles, QE. An AFP arrives roughly every 7–13 years, so some columns will naturally land near highs, selloffs, or dead middles. That happens with or without the 90° angle doing anything.
Hansen's stronger claim is window timing. But his sample is only thirteen episodes: +28% on average, followed by −13%, with durations matched to extreme percentiles. Misses matter: 2006 barely moved; 1937 and 1987 were ugly. The proposed chain—stable Sun → ionosphere → Schumann → mood—rests on a tiny Schumann window and an R² ≈ 0.05. The "Micro Driver" projection line in the August 7 forecast looks impressively strong, its inputs and formula are understandably undisclosed, and it could be a weekly spectrum-cycle composite projection, unrelated to the AFP columns. The M-Spike formula is also unpublished, though it can be deduced as an exactly repeating, non-astronomical 55-week/385-day mystery cycle, with p ≈ 0.19.
So 2026 is a fascinating real-world test of Physics-Based Forecasts of Investment Sentiment—but still not proof that the theory works or doesn’t. Orbital geometry can be projected indefinitely into the future. And trader and investor sentiment? Maybe not. If 2026 fails to deliver the usual boom-then-fade, that failure is evidence against the theory. If it rhymes, fine—but it is still one more cluster, not a law. Watch the timing windows. Respect the uncertainty. Never bet the farm on orbital geometry—nor anything else.
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