New York, Jan 11, 2026, 19:14 (EST) — Market closed
- IREN ended Friday up 0.7% at $46.03 after a wide swing in the session.
- Bitcoin traded around $90,757 late Sunday, up about 0.4% on the day.
- Traders are bracing for U.S. inflation data and Fed signals that can move crypto-linked stocks.
Nasdaq-listed IREN Limited edged up 0.7% to $46.03 on Friday and could face a new test when markets reopen on Monday, with bitcoin holding near $91,000 late Sunday.
The timing matters because IREN has become a proxy for two trades that can turn fast: bitcoin and big-ticket AI infrastructure. Both are sensitive to shifts in rates, risk appetite and liquidity, and the calendar is packed.
Top of that calendar is the U.S. consumer price index (CPI) report on Tuesday, the government’s main inflation gauge. Any surprise there can quickly reshape expectations for interest rates and, by extension, high-volatility assets like bitcoin and the stocks tied to it. (Bureau of Labor Statistics)
U.S. investors also head into a busy stretch for risk assets, with major bank earnings and economic prints crowding the tape this week, after stock futures softened late Sunday. (MarketWatch)
Crypto-miner peers were mixed in the last session. Marathon Digital fell about 2.0%, Riot Platforms rose 1.3%, and CleanSpark slid 3.1%.
IREN itself was jumpy. The stock traded from $45.52 to nearly $50 on Friday and changed hands more than 41 million times, a reminder that it can gap on thin conviction.
On the analyst side, Bernstein’s Gautam Chhugani called IREN a top AI pick in a sector outlook and urged investors to “start 2026 by buying stocks on the dip,” according to TipRanks. He also argued crypto markets “have bottomed,” the report said. (TipRanks)
IREN has tried to sell investors on the AI angle since it struck a long-term deal with Microsoft to provide dedicated GPU services from data centers in Childress, Texas. A company filing described the total contract value at about $9.7 billion over the term and said 20% of the value would be prepaid ahead of tranche deliveries. (SEC)
But the downside case is easy to sketch. If Tuesday’s CPI comes in hot and pushes bond yields up, bitcoin can slide and miners can get hit harder, while power costs and shifting mining economics add another layer of uncertainty.
Beyond CPI, investors will watch Wednesday’s Fed Beige Book and a steady run of Fed speaker events for any shift in tone ahead of the Jan. 27–28 policy meeting. (Federal Reserve)
For IREN, the near-term driver is still the same: bitcoin’s next move and how the market prices interest-rate risk. The first hard catalyst is Tuesday’s CPI report at 8:30 a.m. ET.
