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Market Updates

U.S. home prices hit a record-high for the ninth time in the last twelve months. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller US National Home Price Index for March showed a 1.3% monthly gain and a 6.5% gain year-over-year. In particular, markets such as San Diego (+11.1%), New York City (+9.2%) and Los Angeles (+8.8%) posted strong yearly results, with Portland and Denver seeing the smallest annual gains. Meanwhile, the FHFA House Price Index for March rose by 0.1% monthly, 1.1% quarterly and 6.6% yearly and has now shown positive gains every quarter since 2012. The five states with the highest average appreciation rate in the past year were Vermont, New Jersey, New York, Delaware, and Wisconsin. Despite persistently high mortgage rates, prices are rising because of a lack of supply, though inventory has grown in the past month. Because both indices report data from two months prior, don’t be surprised to see a price slowdown going forward.

xAI, Elon Musk’s OpenAI competitor, raised a $6 billion Series B. The company now carries a $24 billion post-money valuation, second only to OpenAI’s $86 billion valuation among AI startups. The round was led by VC heavyweights like Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz with additional funding from Saudi sources. This gives xAI the funding it needs to compete with Microsoft-backed OpenAI and Amazon-backed Anthropic, with potentially huge rewards for the first company to bring the next big breakthrough in AI to the public.

John Lennon’s “lost” guitar sold for $2.85 million. The “Hootenanny” guitar had not been seen for more than 50 years before being rediscovered and authenticated as the one used by both Lennon and George Harrison during the “Help!” and “Rubber Soul” recording sessions. It far exceeded the pre-sale estimate of $600,000-$800,000 and set a new record for any Beatles guitar. Music memorabilia is an emerging collectibles market and rare items tied to legendary artists have been consistently beating expectations at auction.

Goldman Sachs raised more than $20 billion for its newest private credit fund. The Wall Street giant’s fifth direct lending fund clocked in at nearly triple the previous fund, which attracted $7.1 billion and closed in March 2021. With private equity dry powder at an all-time high, Goldman expects there to be a number of lending opportunities in the near future. All told, they are hoping to more than double their private credit business from $130 billion to $300 billion in the next five years. Private credit has been one of the fastest growing alternative asset classes, and despite a crowded market, it does not seem to be slowing down anytime soon.

📝 Top Stories

• A valuable fossil: The 27-foot long “Apex” is one of the largest and most well-preserved full Stegosaurus skeletons ever discovered, and carries a $4 million - $6 million estimate when it goes to auction this July.

• Gemini repaying its users: The crypto exchange owned by the Winklevoss twins announced that users of its Earn program will receive $2.18 billion, after having their funds frozen for since November 2022 in the wake of partner Genesis’ bankruptcy. As the price of digital assets has risen in the interim, the distribution represents a 232% recovery.

• SpaceX at $200 billion?: In what was a big week for Elon Musk companies, it was reported that SpaceX is considering a tender offer at a valuation of $200 billion, an increase over its last price of $180 billion, though Musk later denied the report.

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