Holly Van Leuven

2 weeks ago | morningbrew.com | Holly Van Leuven

After the stock market closed on Friday, credit rating agency Moody’s got in a mood, downgrading America’s creditworthiness from a perfect AAA grade to the next-best Aa1 on account of running up massive deficits and paying an eye-watering amount of interest to service its debt. There are three major credit agencies, and Moody’s was the last to knock the US from the most pristine credit rating. The others, S&P and Fitch, downgraded US’ credit in 2011 and 2023, respectively.

1 month ago | morningbrew.com | Holly Van Leuven

Think your niche hobby can’t become a career? In a landmark study published on Friday, researchers say they’ve created an antivenom that offers unmatched protection against some of the world’s deadliest creatures, all thanks to a snake enthusiast and truck mechanic from Wisconsin who let himself be bitten hundreds of times and is now director of herpetology at the biotech startup Centivax, which is at the forefront of the research.

1 month ago | morningbrew.com | Holly Van Leuven

Recent stock market turbulence cast the same spell on individual investors and hedge funds as fortune cookies put on Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis. The two types of investors are acting like the other used to, the Wall Street Journal reported. Conventional wisdom once held that individuals investing in the stock market would flee at the signs of a downturn, earning them the nickname “dumb money,” whereas hedge funds would weather the storm.

1 month ago | morningbrew.com | Holly Van Leuven

Yesterday, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a plan to phase out eight FDA-approved artificial dyes used in food and medication by the end of 2026, leaving major food companies to find natural alternatives. This represents Kennedy’s first major push to make US policy align with his MAHA (“Make America Healthy Again”) movement.

1 month ago | morningbrew.com | Holly Van Leuven

Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, a horror movie set in Jim Crow-era Mississippi, had Hollywood execs screaming before the first preview rolled. That’s because the agreement Warner Bros. struck with writer and director Coogler for the film has been keeping them up at night. Big asks: Coogler, who also directed Black Panther and Creed, among other movies, reportedly sought ~$90 million for Sinners with a few strings attached.