SOLOMON GREY
CAPITAL

By John Grey
 Wealthy investors are voting with their feet. In the first quarter alone, more than $10.1 billion in redemption requests have poured into some of the largest private-credit and direct-lending funds, according to data circulating among market participants and confirmed by multiple fund managers. Blackstone, BlackRock and Morgan Stanley have already begun rationing payouts, honoring roughly 70% of requests so far and invoking quarterly caps or injecting their own

By SK Lee As China rolls out its blueprint to become a global sports powerhouse, a hybrid of tennis, badminton, and ping-pong is emerging as an unlikely beneficiary of Beijing’s policy pivot. Pickleball, currently the world’s fastest-growing sport, is catching the attention of both state planners and private capital. As Beijing shifts its focus from an elite, podium-driven model toward mass fitness and grassroots athletics, investment firms are betting that the sport’s low ba

By John Ian Lau Kung Hei Fat Choi! As we gallop into the Lunar Year of the Horse, may prosperity and innovation charge forth like a spirited stallion. In the I Ching, the Year of the Fire Horse—spanning February 17, 2026, to February 5, 2027—embodies radiant volatility and unrestrained energy. The heavenly stem “Bing” (丙) aligns with the sun’s bold fire, paired with the earthly branch “Wu” (午) for Horse, amplifying themes of expansion, ambition, and technological disruption.

By John Ian Lau 
JiL’s Take on AI In the quiet corridors of economic think tanks and the bustling halls of government, a profound perplexity is setting in. The future of human society, once plotted along predictable curves of growth and constraint, now teeters on the edge of an unprecedented transformation. On one hand, artificial intelligence and robotics promise hyper growth—an explosion of productivity that could redefine prosperity. On the other, the very foundations of i

By John Ian Lau February 14, 2026 The artificial intelligence landscape has evolved at breakneck speed in recent months, with breakthroughs in reasoning, multimodality, and autonomous agents reshaping industries from tech to manufacturing. As companies pour billions into AI infrastructure, the technology’s promise of efficiency is colliding with stark realities for the workforce: agentic AI—systems that act independently to complete complex tasks—is poised to displace entry-l

By SK Lee Zhongshan, China — As pickleball continues its transformation from a niche backyard game into a global powerhouse, the inaugural LIT TLP tournament in China’s Greater Bay Area served as a vivid illustration of the sport’s accelerating momentum. Organized by LIT TLP in partnership with LUZZ Pickleball and sponsored by LIT Larry Jewelry Limited — a storied jeweler with over six decades of heritage catering to Asia’s elite gem collectors — the event drew no more than 4

By John Ian Lau Market puked. What caused it? One of the unknowns was Kevin Warsh, or rather, President Donald Trump’s nomination of the former Federal Reserve governor to chair the central bank—a development that caught many off guard until its announcement on Friday. Markets experienced one of the sharpest one-day wealth destructions in recent history, with over $5 trillion erased across assets. The declines were stark: • Precious metals led the rout: Gold fell 10.9%, eras

By John Ian Lau As global markets grapple with a cocktail of geopolitical tensions, policy unpredictability, and fiscal concerns, the U.S. dollar has plunged to multi-year lows, propelling gold to unprecedented heights while leaving Bitcoin — often touted as the “digital gold” — in the dust. The divergence highlights shifting investor appetites in an era of uncertainty, with traditional safe havens reclaiming the spotlight from riskier crypto assets. The U.S. Dollar Index (DX

By John Ian Lau The Federal Reserve hit the pause button on its easing cycle Wednesday, holding the benchmark federal funds rate steady at 3.5%-3.75% after three consecutive quarter-point cuts since September. The decision reflects a shift in the balance of risks, with policymakers viewing the economy as more stable and inflation pressures as persistent, even as growth accelerates. In its post-meeting statement, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) noted that “available i

By John Ian Lau, Contributing Editor In the relentless march of artificial intelligence, we’ve witnessed a profound transformation: the titans of tech—once synonymous with software and silicon—are now inextricably linked to the energy sector. Big AI companies like Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Meta have effectively become power companies, voraciously consuming electricity to fuel their data-hungry models. This shift isn’t just metaphorical; it’s a stark reality reshaping inf