Alternative Investing Report - September 29, 2025

*as of 9/28 Sources: S&P, BTC, FTSE, DJRE, GOLD

Over the weekend, the fall art auction season began in Hong Kong, with Christie’s 20th/21st Century Evening Sale seeing the biggest results, bringing in $72.7 million just below a pre-sale high estimate of $74.1 million. The centerpiece sale was Picasso’s “Buste de Femme” which sold for $25.3 million, nearly doubling its high estimate. Of the auction’s 38 lots, 35 sold, with 14 selling above their high estimate. Then, on Sunday night, Sotheby’s held its Modern & Contemporary Evening Auction, selling 38 of the 40 lots with 14 exceeding their high estimates. The auction totaled $43.2 million against a pre-sale high estimate of $47 million.

➨ TAKEAWAY: The sales were solid results, particularly for the Christie’s auction, which saw the lot with the third-highest estimate — a David Hockney painting — go unsold, and it still almost exceeded its overall estimate. One pattern across both auctions was lower-priced lots being more likely to beat their estimates, with 22 of the 28 doing so carrying estimates of less than $1 million. The Hong Kong auctions are relatively small but the results augur well for the rest of the season. The major London auctions will kick off in mid-October with the New York series to follow in November.

📊 Inflation report: The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index, the Fed’s preferred inflation reading, was up 0.3% in August and 2.7% annually, in line with expectations. Core PCE, which excludes food and energy prices, was up 0.2% monthly and 2.9% annually. The markets reacted favorably after there was some concern that the numbers would show a steeper rise in inflation.

🦕 Triceratops skeleton: In November, Phillips is auctioning “Cera,” a complete juvenile triceratops skeleton that carries an estimated price tag of $2.5 million - $3.5 million.

🤖 Nscale’s record-setting Series B: The Nvidia-backed AI infrastructure startup raised $1.1 billion, the largest Series B in European history, at a reported valuation of $3.1 billion.

🪙 Crypto Fear & Greed: With the markets tumbling, the Crypto Fear & Greed Index hit its lowest level since April, when Bitcoin was priced at $83,000, which reflects the changing price expectations traders now hold.

⚾ Ohtani leads in jersey sales: Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani had the top selling jersey in MLB for the third straight year, underscoring his dominant presence in the memorabilia market.

🚀 Week’s biggest rounds: There were nine funding rounds of $100 million or more for U.S.-based startups last week, led by legal tech’s Filevine and healthtech’s Judi Health, with six AI startups and one crypto startup making up the rest.

🏡 Private real estate funding: After two years of steep declines, fundraising for private real estate funds in 2025 is on track to exceed last year’s total, a good sign for the asset class.

🪙 S&P 500 on the blockchain: Blockchain platform Centrifuge launched SPXA, the first licensed tokenized S&P 500 index fund, on Coinbase’s layer-2 Ethereum network Base.

Monday: Pending home sales report released.

Tuesday: The Major League Baseball playoffs begin; Sotheby’s “Altitude: Important Sports Collectibles” auction, featuring Kobe Bryant’s game-worn number 24 debut jersey that could sell for seven-figures; S&P Case-Shiller home price index and FHFA house price index released.

Wednesday: Yom Kippur begins at sundown; the U.S. government may shut down if Congress does not approve a funding plan before Wednesday.

Friday: U.S. jobs report released, unless the government is shut down.

Saturday: Goldin’s Fall Vintage Elite auction, featuring multiple high-value Babe Ruth cards.