Alternative Investing Report - January 14, 2026

*as of 1/13; Sources: S&P, BTC, FTSE, DJRE, CL50

In the first full inflation report since the government shutdown, the consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.3% in December and 2.7% annually, in line with expectations but still above the Fed’s 2% target. Core CPI, which strips out food and energy costs, rose 0.2% monthly and 2.6% annually, slightly below expectations. Stock market response to the report was muted, but the crypto market reacted positively, with Bitcoin crossing the $95,000 mark for the first time in two months.

➨ TAKEAWAY: These inflation results paired with last week’s jobs reports seem to indicate a relatively steady state for the U.S. economy. This means the odds of a rate cut coming soon are low — the CME FedWatch tool sees only a 2.8% chance of a cut in January. The odds of a cut in March or April edged up slightly, but still remain below 50%. JP Morgan now forecasts zero rate cuts this year, and a rate hike coming in 2027, and while that is still a minority opinion, it is something to watch out for.

In this mini-episode of Smart Humans, Vincent co-founders Slava Rubin and Adam Katz preview the pre-IPO sector, talking about which major companies may IPO and which sectors investors should watch in the upcoming year. Look for previews of other asset classes to drop over the next week.

🪙 Eric Adams’ crypto token: The former mayor of New York City, known for his myriad scandals and his love of cryptocurrency, unsurprisingly launched his own crypto token, called “NYC Token.” Also unsurprisingly, the value crashed by 80% and the developers and potentially Adams are being accused of “rug-pulling” and withdrawing $2.4 million in USDC shortly after launch.

💵 Record PE stake sales: Private equity investors sold more than $110 billion in fund stakes to secondary investors, a record amount, as they sought liquidity and secondary buyers took advantage. Secondaries funds raised a record amount of capital last year, and the strategy is likely to only grow further in 2026.

🏢 Sun Belt struggles: Rent concessions have risen significantly in cities such as Phoenix and Denver, and metro areas in Texas and Florida, with more than half of all listings in Phoenix now offering free months of rent. Concessions tend to be concentrated at the top end of the market, and can make rentrolls look more attractive than they actually are.

🏡 Mortgage lock-in decreasing: For the first time since rates have increased, more Americans have a mortgage with a rate above 6% than below 3%, an important milestone that indicates the so-called “lock-in effect” could be diminishing. Still, more than half of homeowners have rates below 4%, so there is still a disincentive to sell and move to a new house with a higher rate.

🎨 2026 art fairs: A look at the major art fairs on tap this year, with Art Basel Qatar the first real bellwether of how 2026 will go for the art market when it kicks off in early February.

🚀 Stablecoin fundraise: In its third funding round in less than a year, stablecoin startup Rain raised $250 million at a $1.95 billion valuation, up 17x since last March.

The privacy coin sector had a major shakeup in the past week as the developers of the leading coin Zcash (ZEC) abruptly resigned after a conflict with the company’s board and said that they are starting a new company. This group exodus led to an almost immediate price drop of more than 20%, and after a brief recovery the price has fallen back down again. In response, one of Zcash’s leading rivals, Monero (XMR), has seen its price jump by nearly 50% in the past week, hurtling its way to a new all-time high and more than doubling over the last three months.