*as of 7/28; Sources: S&P, BTC, FTSE, DJRE, GOLD

The latest S&P Cotality Case-Shiller Home Price Index showed U.S. housing prices remaining essentially flat in May, but increasing by 1.1% year-over-year. Chicago once again was the top performing major market, followed by New York and Cleveland, with Las Vegas, Seattle, and Denver seeing the biggest price declines. Meanwhile, the FHFA House Price Index showed slightly better results with a 0.3% monthly gain and a 2.2% year-over-year gain.

➨ TAKEAWAY: Keep in mind that May was when inflation rose significantly, with the consumer price index reaching 4.2%, so housing prices are falling in real terms, though inflation has cooled in the past two months. On the other hand, mortgage rates have increased slightly since the end of May, which has limited market activity. The Fed seems likely to keep rates steady or even hike them the rest of the year, so don’t expect a reprieve on mortgage rates anytime soon.

In the newest episode of Smart Humans, Slava Rubin talks with Orbit2Orbit founder Bradley Hatton-Jones about the SpaceX IPO, the future of space logistics, investing into space tech, and the in-orbit economy.

🚀 Jersey Mike’s IPO demand: The sandwich chain’s upcoming public offering this Thursday is reportedly 10 times oversubscribed, so it may be in line for a first day bump. The company is aiming to raise more than $1 billion at a $8 billion valuation.

📊 Consumer confidence dips: The Conference Board’s U.S. consumer confidence index fell 1.4 points to 90.8, as consumer outlook on the present state of the market declined for the third straight month. Expectations for the economy and labor market over the next six months also remained in negative territory.

🤖 Alphasense exploring IPO: Fresh off a new funding round that valued it at $7.5 billion, the AI startup is reportedly taking the first steps towards a public offering, as its annual recurring revenue has grown by 40% to more than $700 million.

🪙 Crypto’s quantum threat: Decentralized cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin will likely be the first systems tested by quantum computing advances. According to experts, the slow speed of governance could leave blockchains vulnerable to quantum sooner than expected.

🚀 Corgi raises more money: The AI insurance startup is raising its third round in the past two months at a $4 billion valuation, which would represent a sixfold increase in its value since January.

💵 Ares selling private credit stakes: The major asset manager is preparing to sell $3.4 billion worth of its flagship European direct lending strategy, which would would rank among the largest private credit secondaries deals ever.

It’s time for another check-in on Worldcoin, the eyeball-scanning crypto project backed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, as it once again had the biggest drop of any coin in the top-50 by market cap over the past week. The token’s value is down 16% in the past week, 28% in the past month, and 72% in the past year. Beyond the general downward trend, one catalyst for the price drop this week was the World Foundation selling 217.4 million tokens for $47.5 million USDC at a price of $0.24 per token, below market value. While there are lockup provisions, the deal shows what at least one large investor believes to be the market price, and it also raises concerns about future selling pressure. On the other hand, there is apparently some entity with deep pockets that still believes in the project.