# Verrone expects a 2026 shift toward real-economy stocks

Markdown copy of https://realalpha.app/s/verrone-expects-a-2026-shift-toward-real-economy-stocks/ on Real Alpha, the best minutes from long interviews with the people building AI. Cite and link the page, not this copy.

- Speaker: [Chris Verrone](https://realalpha.app/people/chris-verrone/) · Strategas
- Host: [Steve Eisman](https://realalpha.app/people/steve-eisman/)
- Show: The Real Eisman Playbook
- Episode: [2026 Predictions with Dan Ives and Chris Verrone | The Real Eisman Playbook Episode 40](https://realalpha.app/v/KByibe1S6l8/), Jan 5, 2026
- Moment: 58:59 to 1:01:41 of the episode (3 min), playing on https://realalpha.app/s/verrone-expects-a-2026-shift-toward-real-economy-stocks/; the episode from there: https://realalpha.app/v/KByibe1S6l8/?t=3539

## Quote

> “It's about owning **real stuff with carry** versus Bitcoin with no carry.”
> — [Chris Verrone](https://realalpha.app/people/chris-verrone/) at [1:01:00](https://realalpha.app/v/KByibe1S6l8/?t=3660) · The Real Eisman Playbook

## Takeaways

1. He expects a handoff from speculative assets in the first half of 2026.
2. He names transports, regional banks, housing and commodities.
3. He sees Bitcoin weakness as a signal favoring assets with carry.

## About this segment

Chris Verrone expects a first-half shift from speculative assets toward transports, regional banks, housing and commodities. He reads Bitcoin’s weakness as an early signal that investors may favor assets with carry.

From “2026 Predictions with Dan Ives and Chris Verrone | The Real Eisman Playbook Episode 40”, Jan 5, 2026. [Watch the full episode](https://realalpha.app/v/KByibe1S6l8/)

## Transcript

Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.

[59:12](https://realalpha.app/v/KByibe1S6l8/?t=3552) I think we're in this handoff in the first half of 26 from some of the real speculative parts of the economy to the real economy. And I think it's- And when you say real economy, you mean what? I think this is transports, regional banks, housing, chemicals, commodities having their say here. And they've largely been off the playing field for two, three, four years. I ironically don't think it's out of step with the AI theme because these may be AI derivatives in some respect.

[59:43](https://realalpha.app/v/KByibe1S6l8/?t=3583) And I think certainly the commodity space may be the raw material for a lot of the things Dan's talking about. So I like real economy stuff. I think Bitcoin has been telling us for four or five months now that there's this handoff happening to the real economy stocks. Well, let's talk about what's happening in crypto because we haven't talked about crypto. First of all, how do the charts look on crypto?

[1:00:02](https://realalpha.app/v/KByibe1S6l8/?t=3602) They don't look great. They do not look good. You don't need to be a trained chartist. Listen. What do you think is going – you know what my problem with having even like a discussion about crypto in this is like, okay, so it's down. The charts look bad. That's like the extent of my discussion. Like I don't know what else to say. There's no PE. There's no price to book. You know, what's the thesis is to own it.

[1:00:30](https://realalpha.app/v/KByibe1S6l8/?t=3630) You know, I'm sort of bewildered by what – I'm bewildered when it goes up. I'm bewildered when it goes down. I mean you basically have had three and a half to four-year cycles on crypto and we're kind of at the end of a three and a half to four-year cycle where I think you get 12 months of violent range. i'm not convinced this rally that tried to begin a few weeks ago is over yet i could see this rallying back to 105 10 10 i think there's a lot of sellers up there on bitcoin uh who were late to the game uh who bought it late but what's the message steve and i've wondered for a few months now is bitcoin's weakness kind of the first hint of the first tell that 26 is not about owning purely liquidity-driven, high-beta speculative assets.

[1:01:13](https://realalpha.app/v/KByibe1S6l8/?t=3673) It's about owning real stuff with carry versus Bitcoin with no carry. So I'm very open to that being the message as we think about why or what Bitcoin's trying to tell us. Interesting. Dan, what'd you do? Yeah, I mean, look, I think tech stocks