Stocks rally on soft landing hopes, Goldman Layoffs, oil rallies on China optimism, gold higher, Solana impresses

US stocks are rallying as soft-landing hopes grow ahead of this week’s key CPI report that should show disinflation trends remain intact. ​ Wall Street is pricing in the Fed to be one and done with tightening and possibly cutting rates at the end of the year. ​

Today’s risk-on rally for stocks got a boost from a weaker dollar and optimism that China’s reopening was gaining steam. ​ Corporate headlines are showing consistent stories of a weakening consumer which should help bring down inflation. ​ The retail space is softening quickly as Lululemon cut its guidance and Macy’s liquidations will start this month.

Goldman Layoffs

Goldman Sachs is expected to start a massive round of layoffs this week. The firm is expected to reduce its workforce by 3,200 positions. Just like Amazon, Goldman had several years of robust hiring, so this expected round of layoffs isn’t surprising many. ​ If Goldman, who has been doing relatively well (profits are declining, but it is for everyone else too) is cutting jobs, Wall Street should not be surprised if more investment banks/trading units announce job cuts this quarter.

A few weeks ago, reports circulated that they were planning on reducing staff by 3,900 positions, so this latest reporting of 3,200 is not as bad as feared.

Crypto

A month ago, Solana was dead for many crypto traders. ​ Solana was a casualty of the collapse of FTX and Alameda Research. Everyone knew Solana had deep financial ties with FTX, so it was no surprise that the SOL prices collapsed. ​ Solana was supposed to be the ethereum killer and it still has a chance if it can survive this dark period. ​ Solana does a lot of things right with the environment, scalability, and has attracted some key partnerships.

Cryptos are rallying today, but BNB, Cardano, Solana, MATIC, and Polkadot are easily outperforming bitcoin and ethereum. ​ ​