🆕 Newsmakers — 4:30p ET, 2026-07-20 — new since last alert

📰 NEW MARKET THEMES: • From Memory to Software: Threats AI Presents to Tech Sector John Freeman and Kai Wu talk about the state of the AI trade. They touch on their expectations for earnings season, how they predict AI companies will be scrutinized, and why memory storage demand will grow in the coming years. — youtube.com · 07/20 4:00p https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPbI_OSgtno • The Biggest U.S. Home Builder's Earnings Matter for Smaller Ones, Too As home sales remain constrained, investors will watch for signs that builders' profit margins are finished compressing. — barrons.com · 07/20 4:00p https://www.barrons.com/articles/us-home-builders-earnings-dr-horton-margins-ffd33c71 • Trump orders tightening of defense supply chain waiver rules President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order making it harder for U.S. defense contractors to obtain waivers allowing them to ​buy critical minerals and other materials from China and other prohibited foreign ‌suppliers, the administration's latest effort to reduce… — reuters.com · 07/20 3:44p https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/trump-orders-tightening-defense-supply-chain-waiver-rules-2026-07-20/ • Ball Q2 Preview: Not An Appealing Investment Yet Ball Corporation remains a hold as I await clear signs of profitability improvement or operational momentum post-earnings. Q2 expectations are for $0.99 adjusted EPS, $0.88 GAAP EPS, and $3.68B revenue, with double-digit y/y growth but slowing momentum. I am closely monitoring m… — seekingalpha.com · 07/20 3:42p https://seekingalpha.com/article/4923550-ball-q2-preview-not-appealing-investment-yet • China's AI Boom: The Market Got It Wrong Moonshot AI's Kimi K3 model demonstrates Chinese AI models are rapidly approaching Western performance at lower costs, challenging AI infrastructure assumptions. Despite cheaper models, true costs per completed task narrow the price gap, with K3 only about 10% cheaper than top W… — seekingalpha.com · 07/20 3:33p https://seekingalpha.com/article/4923547-chinas-ai-boom-the-market-got-it-wrong

— new items only (already-sent headlines filtered). Full list in the 10am/3pm digest.