Alternative Investing Report - October 29, 2025

*as of 10/28; Sources: S&P, BTC, FTSE, DJRE, CL50

The S&P Cotality Case Shiller Home Price index showed a 0.3% monthly decline in its August data, with prices up 1.5% year-over-year, the weakest annual growth rate in more than two years. The markets with the highest gains were New York, Chicago, and Cleveland, while Tampa, Phoenix, and Las Vegas brought up the rear. And despite the government shutdown, the FHFA released its House Price index, which showed a surprising 0.4% monthly increase and a 2.3% annual increase in August.

➨ TAKEAWAY: Both indices lag behind data from sources such as Zillow and Redfin that have already released their September reports, but are generally considered to be more accurate. While there is some difference between all of the recent housing price reports, they are in general agreement that annual price growth has been declining and the Northeast and Midwest is outpacing the Sun Belt. With price growth now lagging significantly behind inflation, many homeowners are seeing declines in their relative wealth.

📊 Consumer confidence dips: The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index fell by 1 point to 94.6, and is down 13.6% year-over-year, in the wake of the government shutdown and rising inflation. This could be a poor omen in advance of the holiday season, as consumers may avoid purchasing bigger-ticket items.

🚀 Whatnot valuation doubles: The live shopping platform raised a $225 million funding round at a $11.5 billion valuation, more than double its $5 billion valuation from January.

🏡 Renters looking to buy: The share of renters who are considering buying rose from 58% to 64% in the past year, and 42% of renters say that lower mortgage rates would make it very or extremely likely that they would buy a home.

🪙 Trump prediction market: The President’s media company is getting into the prediction market game, partnering with Crypto.com to launch prediction market betting on the Truth Social platform, which will allow election betting.

🤖 Amazon AI-induced layoffs: In a potential sign of things to come, the tech giant is laying off 14,000 of its corporate staff as it ramps up spending on AI, and its CEO Andy Jassy expects that AI will continue to allow it to reduce its corporate workforce going forward.

💵 Private credit rating inflation: The central-bank owned Bank for International Settlements warned that loan ratings on private credit investments may be systematically inflated, particularly those evaluated by smaller rating agencies.

The crypto market has had modest gains in the past seven days, but the big winner among the top-50 tokens by market cap was Hyperliquid, the native token of the decentralized exchange of the same name. Boosted by its recent listing on Robinhood, the token has rebounded from a 40% decline from its all-time high in September that was caused in part by trading volume increases on rival exchanges. The price was also boosted by a new Digital Asset Treasury company filing an SEC S-1 announcing its intention to raise $1 billion to buy HYPE tokens. Hyperliquid has quickly become a major token despite being launched less than a year ago, and it is also generating significant trading fees. If it can maintain its position as a top decentralized exchange, it could continue to see price growth going forward, but it is a risky proposition.