*as of 9/30; Sources: S&P, BTC, FTSE, DJRE, GOLD

The fall art auction season kicked off with major sales in Hong Kong earlier this week that brought in $184.6 million between Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips. This result is a solid gain over the $164.9 million tally from the spring auctions, and a big increase over the $110 million the equivalent auctions brought in last year. The Sotheby’s evening sales brought in $124.3 million, the highest total since 2023, and Christie’s brought in $92.6 million, a 28% increase year-over-year.

➨ TAKEAWAY: Following a strong spring season, these first results are a promising start to the fall art season, particularly given the uncertain global economic conditions. Sotheby’s also had a sale this week in London of modern and contemporary South Asian art, which drove its highest-ever result and set nine new artist records. The next major auctions will come in two weeks in London, which will come now with higher expectations.

Vincent CEO Eric Cantor is joined by The Champion Fund co-founders Marques Colston and Nick Edwards to discuss the booming sports asset class, investment opportunities, and how everyday investors can access this exclusive market. The panel dives into TCF's investment into Premier League club Ipswich Town FC and shares insights on valuation, deal analysis, and future trends in sports investing.

📊 Inflation is cooling: The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, rose 0.3% in August and is up 3.4% annually, below the expected 3.7% mark. The core PCE index, which excludes food and energy costs, rose 0.2% monthly and 3% annually, also below the 3.3% annual forecast. While the rates are still above the Fed’s 2% target, these results make it more likely that the Fed will not raise interest rates at its next meeting at the end of the month.

🏀 Jordan jersey record: Michael Jordan’s game-worn jersey from Game 3 of the 1998 “Last Dance” NBA Finals sold at Joopiter auctions for $12.26 million, breaking the record for the most expensive NBA jersey ever sold. The previous record was $10.1 million for the jersey Jordan wore in Game 1 of the series, which sold in 2023.

🤖 Modal Labs fundraise: The AI infrastructure startup is reportedly raising a $750 million funding round at a $15.75 billion valuation, which would more than triple its valuation from just four months ago.

🚀 New public AI fund: The tech analyst Dan Ives is launching a closed-end fund to invest into private late-stage AI companies. The Ives Ultra AI Opportunities fund (NYSE: IVAI) is selling 20 million shares of common stock at $10 per share to raise $200 million in total.

🏡 Price drops increase: 21% of active U.S. home listings have dropped their asking price, the highest share since at least 2022, as the housing market continues to favor buyers.

💵 SEC warns on private credit: The SEC issued a reminder to firms dealing in private market assets, particularly private credit, to stress the importance of how they value their assets, and how those valuations and risks are disclosed to investors.

It’s been a big week for OpenAI, which started with the news that the AI startup decided not to release its GPT-6.1 Astra model due to safety concerns, which came on the heels of weeks of discussion among top AI companies about slowing down model development. All the public pronouncements from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and others was not enough to dissuade the Federal Trade Commission from opening up a probe into OpenAI, Anthropic, and others over the potential risks AI pose to consumers. Despite the negative publicity, OpenAI is also reportedly looking to raise an additional $30 billion in funding at a $1.4 trillion valuation, a hefty increase over its last valuation of $852 billion in March. Altman recently said that no IPO will happen until next year, so this funding round is likely an attempt to tide them over until then.