SOLOMON GREY
CAPITAL

By John Ian Lau
 January 9, 2026 Yesterday, on January 8, 2026, Z.ai (formerly Zhipu AI, stock code 02513.HK) made history as the world’s first publicly listed company focused on large language models (LLMs), debuting on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Priced at HK$116.20 per share, it opened at HK$120.00, achieving a market capitalization exceeding HK$51 billion (approximately US$6.6–6.8 billion). This landmark event provides fresh transparency into the AI sector’s realities,

By John Ian Lau Contributing Editor Almost one week into January 2026, the U.S. economy demonstrates remarkable resilience, with Goldman Sachs forecasting robust 2.6% real GDP growth for the year — well above the consensus estimate of around 2.0% — driven by tax cuts, easing tariff impacts, and supportive financial conditions. This optimism aligns with a broadening bull market, where Goldman Sachs targets the S&P 500 at 7,600 by year-end, implying roughly 11-12% total returns

By John Ian Lau
, Solomon Grey Capital 
January 5, 2026 In the early hours of January 3, U.S. special forces executed a swift raid on Caracas, capturing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and effectively ending his 13-year rule. The Trump administration framed the operation as a decisive step toward restoring democracy and securing access to Venezuela’s immense oil reserves—estimated at over 300 billion barrels, potentially valued at $17.3 trillion. Yet, as the dust settles

By John Ian Lau
, Contributing Editor, Solomon Grey Capital January 5, 2026 In the high-stakes arena of global geopolitics, few connections appear as improbable yet strategically potent as the one linking Caracas and Tehran. With the dramatic U.S.-led operation that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro over the weekend, Washington’s aggressive push to reclaim influence over the world’s largest proven oil reserves—estimated at over 300 billion barrels—has suddenly thru

By John Ian Lau, 
Contributing Editor January 4, 2026 Happy New Year! Artificial intelligence continues to command the spotlight in global equity markets as 2026 gets underway, with institutional strategists broadly endorsing the theme even as bubble warnings persist. Bloomberg’s aggregation of more than 60 investment outlooks reveals near-universal optimism: Fidelity International describes AI as “the defining theme for equity markets” in 2026, while BlackRock’s Investment I

By John Ian Lau, Contributing Editor, Solomon Grey Capital The beverage sector, particularly premium and experiential alcohol, continues to attract sophisticated capital as consumers seek quality, authenticity, and moments of celebration over mass-market volume. While the global wine market is valued at around $515 billion in 2024 and projected to reach $550 billion by the end of 2025—with a compound annual growth rate of about 6.7% through 2033, per Grand View Research—premi

By John Ian Lau, Contributing Editor, Solomon Grey Capital “Buy low, sell high” remains the most enduring axiom in investing, yet its simplicity belies the profound difficulty of putting it into practice. In a year like 2025, where U.S. equity markets have surged to repeated all-time highs—driven by retail inflows that are tracking at nearly twice the five-year average—the gap between theory and execution has never been more apparent. Retail investors, who now account for rou

By John Ian Lau, Contributing Editor BEIJING—As the global race for artificial intelligence supremacy intensifies, one critical factor is emerging as the decisive battleground: electricity. Training and running advanced AI models demand enormous computational resources, which in turn require vast amounts of reliable power. China, with its unparalleled expansion of electricity generation capacity, is pulling ahead in this underlying energy contest. China’s installed power gene

By John Ian Lau, Contributing Editor In the high-stakes race for artificial intelligence dominance, South Korea is punching above its weight—or at least trying to. Seoul has recently unveiled a national AI and venture strategy, a blueprint that’s as comprehensive as it is aggressive. Korea has long been a model of execution, from time of electronics manufacturing and development: now in the AI race, it is blending sovereign compute infrastructure, capital infusions, global ou

By SK Lee The world’s largest private credit firms are increasingly viewing professional sports not as a glamorous sideline, but as a resilient infrastructure-like asset class—with scarce supply, inflation-protected cash flows, and vast untapped leverage. Sixth Street, managing over $125 billion, has built a dedicated sports platform blending equity and credit solutions. CEO Alan Waxman has described sports as a “core strategic asset class,” driven by the convergence of media