Alternative Investing Report - January 28, 2026

*as of 1/27; Sources: S&P, BTC, FTSE, DJRE, GOLD

Home prices grew slightly in November, according to the S&P Case-Shiller home price index, which was up 0.4% monthly and 1.4% annually. Chicago was the top performing major city, followed by New York, with Phoenix and Dallas posting the largest losses. Meanwhile, the FHFA House Price Index recorded a 0.6% monthly gain and a 1.9% annual gain, down sharply from the 4.8% gain from the prior 12 months.

➨ TAKEAWAY: The monthly data from both indices was promising, and could indicate a slight turnaround if it continues, but annual price growth has been at its lowest level since the pandemic. Regionally, the Northeast and Midwest continues to outpace the Sun Belt, and this trend is expected to remain throughout 2026. Expect home growth to remain slow nationwide until mortgage rates drop further, which could happen by the end of the year.

📉 Consumer confidence falls: The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index fell by a whopping 10.3% this month, well below expectations, hitting its lowest level since 2014. Consumers are concerned about President Trump’s tariffs, rising healthcare costs, and a weak labor market.

🚜 2026 farmland outlook: Farmland values have stayed resilient over the past two years, showing small gains despite the difficult macro environment and uncertainty surrounding tariffs. With shrinking supply and less competition, this year could be a good entry point for top-quality farmland.

🪙 Ledger eyeing IPO: The crypto hardware manufacturer is reportedly exploring a potential U.S. IPO that would value the company at more than $4 billion, after last being valued at $1.5 billion in 2023.

🤖 Another big AI raise: Ricursive Intelligence, a two-month old startup, raised a $300 million Series A at a $4 billion valuation, already a massive gain over its $750 million valuation from last month.

🚘 Barrett-Jackson results: Last week’s major classic car auction in Scottsdale brought in just over $195 million in sales, falling slightly short of last year’s $198 million tally.

📜 $2.5 million Apple doc: The original agreement between Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne that created Apple Computers sold for $2.5 million at Christie’s, becoming the most valuable document in American business history.

River, the native token of the multi-chain stablecoin platform of the same name, has made exponential gains in the last month, going from $5 to $85 and jumping into the top-100 coins by market cap. The platform aims to remove the need for bridging stablecoins across different blockchains, and has earned the approval of high-profile members of the crypto industry, including Tron founder Justin Sun and BitMex founder Arthur Hayes. The price of the token has been extremely volatile, even for crypto - it briefly hit a high of more than $85 on Monday, fell all the way to $53 on Tuesday, and shot back up near $80 yesterday before ending the day just below $70. Generally when a token has a rapid rise like this, the short-term fall is not far behind, so investors should be cautious.