Soft or Hard Landing?

I know what equities are saying today and of late--clearly in favor of a soft landing, goldilocks scenarios where inflation recedes hard but the economy stays intact--but what of crude oil?

Even with the OPEC+ seemingly bullish news in recent weeks to cut supply we have black gold selling off hard today, as seen on the USO ETF daily chart, below. The specific reason being given by the news headlines today for oil is that Goldman Sachs cut its forecast. But we know Goldman can often be extreme at tops and bottoms. So it is interesting to see the market take Goldman in such a literal way at face value.

Unless, of course, the market simply wants oil much lower and the economy is in the early stages of unraveling as higher rates finally filter their way into the real world with genuine effects. 

If so, as I suspect  is the case, equities are still in la-la-land as we head into some major events: CPI tomorrow, FOMC Wednesday, more data Thursday, and OpEx Friday. Some suggest the post-OpEx period is where the real bearish scenario exists. 

However, seeing oil threaten a clean breakdown right here, right now, with a higher VIX into today's rally in stocks is yet another red flag in a long line of them, especially in front of an action-packed week.  

SCO is the bear ETF for crude to watch.