Alternative Investing Report - May 27, 2026

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*as of 5/26; Sources: S&P, BTC, FTSE, DJRE, GOLD

U.S. home prices fell in March, according to the S&P Cotality Case-Shiller National Home Price Index, and prices were up just 0.7% year-over-year, the lowest level in three years. Chicago, New York, and Cleveland posted the best annual gains, while Denver, Tampa, and Dallas saw the biggest annual declines. Meanwhile, the FHFA House Price Index reported a modest 0.1 monthly gain in March, and a 1.7% annual gain. The states with the top yearly gains were Illinois, Alaska, and Vermont, while Colorado saw the biggest decline.

➨ TAKEAWAY: These results are continuing the trend of slowing home price growth seen so far this year, with appreciation falling further behind the rate of inflation. When adjusted for inflation, the Case-Shiller index shows an annual loss of 2.4%, and the FHFA index shows an annual loss of 1.4%. With borrowing costs remaining high and unlikely to change anytime soon, don’t expect much upward price movement nationally. As always, real estate investing is a local game, and there are still markets that are performing well. Broad national REITs and large funds that are heavily exposed to Sun Belt markets are likely to continue to underperform, depending on their specific portfolios.

Vincent co-founder Slava Rubin and Sacra co-founder Jan-Erik Asplund take an in-depth look at the autonomous driving market, looking at market leader Waymo and emerging startups, as well as existing big tech companies such as Tesla, Amazon, Uber, and Lyft. They cover market history, current dynamics, future predictions, and investment opportunities across the sector.

📊 Consumer confidence declines: The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index fell 0.7 points to 93.1 this month (average is 100), as inflation concerns and rising gas prices continue to hurt U.S. consumers. The sharpest drop came from lower-income people, as consumers that have incomes above $100,000 actually saw a boost in confidence, thanks to stock market gains.

🏀 Huge Victor Wembanyama sale: A 1 of 1 2023-24 Panini Prizm Black rookie card of the Spurs superstar sold for $5.1 million in a private sale, by far the most ever for a Wemby card, and a new record for an unsigned NBA card. The 22 year-old is currently playing in the Western Conference Finals and this purchase is a clear bet on his future as the face of the NBA.

🏢 Small multifamily cap rates fall: The average building with 5-19 units saw cap rate compression in Q1, raising property values 3.6% quarterly, as the sector continues to outperform the broader rental market.

🤖 Stord fundraise: The logistics startup and Amazon fulfillment competitor Stord raised a $250 million funding round, doubling its valuation to $3 billion in the last year. Stord is using the fresh capital to expand its AI capabilities by building a physical intelligence lab to improve shipping times.

🚀 Deep Fission going public again: The nuclear energy startup supposedly went public last September in a reverse merger, but now it has filed for a $157 million Nasdaq IPO after saying its stock was never publicly traded. The new IPO would value the Deep Fission at $1.66 billion despite a “going concern” warning in the filing saying the company could go bankrupt within the next 12 months.

💵 Private credit secondary volume growing: As private credit managers search for liquidity and a way out of underperforming loans, they are increasingly trading in and out of positions. This has opened the door for potential bargain hunters, but also creates more risk as a lot of the assets changing hands are distressed.

Last week, we spotlighted Hyperliquid, the native token of the decentralized exchange of the same name, and it was again one of the biggest gainers in the past week. HYPE has nearly tripled in price since January, and the trading volume on its perpetual futures exchange continues to grow. While digital asset ETFs saw net outflows of nearly $1.5 billion last week, two different HYPE ETFs have now seen eight straight days of net inflows. The growing demand helped HYPE hit a new all-time high last Sunday, though it has seen a slight pullback since then. Hyperliquid is hoping to keep the momentum going by launching prediction markets on its platforms, becoming a direct competitor to the likes of Kalshi and Polymarket.