Market Updates

After starting the year under $10, cryptocurrency Solana is nearing $100. This comes after it lost around 90% of its value in 2022 partially due to its association with jailed FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and partially due to the general crypto bear market that has since turned around. Most of the gains have come in the last two months, with Solana rising over 30% in value in just the last week, with the growth driven by demand for memecoins, such as BONK, which is up over 300% this month and over 10,000% this year and was just added to Coinbase. With the media giving attention to Solana, it could feed the frenzy, or be a sign that the top is arriving, it’s very difficult to time the crypto market. Though Solana is a growing blockchain with a thriving ecosystem, wading into these waters is closer to gambling than it is investing.

Adobe pulled out of its high-profile $20 billion acquisition of Figma. The graphic design giant had hoped to bring the cloud-based design software into its fold, but cited regulatory issues as the reason for the dissolution of the deal, saying “there is no clear path to receive necessary regulatory approvals from the European Commission and the UK Competition and Markets Authority”. They will have to pay Figma a $1 billion breakup fee, which could help the private company, however, most sources peg Figma’s current valuation at around half of what Adobe was going to pay for it. For Figma investors and employees with equity, the lesson is that a deal is not done until, well, it’s done.

Redfin's Housing Market Report showed new listings, pending sales and price growth hitting 2023 highs. This is not a surprising result after mortgage rates fell in the past few weeks, but it is an encouraging result nonetheless. New listings rose to the highest level since October 2022 and the total supply rose by 3.9%, the highest gain since July 2022. Pending sales rose by 2% in the last month to the highest level in a year, while the median sale price rose by 3.7% year-over-year. With the Fed keeping rates steady and targeting cuts next year, the housing market could finally be re-starting and moving in the right direction.

Art auction sales from the three major houses fell by 27% this year. The report looked at results from Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips in five categories: Old Masters, Impressionist, Modern, Post-War, and Contemporary art. There was a sharp decline in paintings selling for over $10 million and at the very top of the market, the top 100 lots sold for a combined $2.4 billion, compared to $4.1 billion in 2022. One bright spot was that the auction houses actually saw the number of sales rise by 6.7%, as more lower-priced lots sold, showing that the market is actually growing in breadth despite the fall at the top.