• ☝️ Nationals outfielder Juan Soto – who last week turned down a 14-year, $440 million contract extension – won the MLB Home-Run Derby last night, beating Mariners rookie and fellow Dominican Julio Rodriguez in the final round. The All-Star Game starts tonight at 8 ET – and if it's tied after nine innings, there'll be another mini-Home-Run Derby.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 💰 Christie’s auction house is launching a venture-capital firm focusing on art-related tech startups.
• 🛍️ Macy’s announced an expanded partnership with WHP Global to bring the “Toys-R-Us” brand to every Macy’s store in America by this holiday season.
• 🏘️📉 US homebuilder sentiment dropped 12 points last month to reach 55; it's the largest single-month drop in history going back 37 years (outside of the first month of the pandemic, that is).

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🪐🎤 The Chainsmokers announced plans to become the first musical artists to perform at the edge of space, in a pressurized capsule some 20 miles above Earth.
• 🎭 Peter Dinklage is starring in the The Hunger Games prequel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (ETA: November 2023).
• 📖✏️ Applications for America’s Next Great Author, a reality TV show pitting six novelists against each other as they each try to finish a book, are now available.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🇨🇳🚀 The Chinese National Space Administration plans to launch a rocket at an asteroid in 2026 to test a potential planetary defense technique; the experiment is similar to NASA’s DART mission.
• 💧⛏ Groundwater collected deep in an underground mine in South Africa is estimated to be 1.2 billion years old, leading researchers to believe it’s some of the oldest on the planet.
• 📡🌊 Submarines may not be able to elude detection by 2050 due to advances in AI-based technology that can make the oceans effectively transparent, per a new Australian study.

EVERYTHING ELSE

• 🇺🇸✈️ Lt. Amanda Lee became the first female fighter jet pilot ever selected to join the US Navy’s Blue Angels.
• 🏨 The world’s 100 best hotels, according to Travel + Leisure.
• ⚖️ Uber reached a settlement with the DOJ yesterday over accusations of overcharging passengers with disabilities.
• 🍕🔒 Piestro has already locked in $580M in preorders for their robotic kiosks that 3X profit margins for pizza restaurants – including 3,600 units for 800 Degrees! Here's how to invest in Piestro (Campaign closes on July 28th)!*

*Sponsored post