Molly Liebergall

New York

Senior Writer, Daily Newsletter at Morning Brew

writing and stuff @morningbrew | previously @theprogressive @TheBadgerProj @BadgerHerald

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Articles

Chipotle to expand to Mexico

2 days ago | morningbrew.com | Molly Liebergall

Soon, the most Mexican thing about Chipotle Mexican Grill won’t be its name: In its latest push for international growth, America’s favorite fast-casual burrito chain is planning to open its first location in Mexico by early 2026, the company announced yesterday. More Latin American locations could follow, Chipotle suggested. The company signed a development deal with Alsea, which also operates locations in Latin America and Europe for chains including Starbucks, Domino’s, and Burger King.
Capital One’s mega-deal for Discover approved

5 days ago | morningbrew.com | Molly Liebergall

One of the largest deals in banking since the 2008 financial crisis is what’s in your wallet: Yesterday, financial regulators gave Capital One the green light to acquire Discover Financial Services for $35 billion, clearing Samuel L. Jackson’s favorite credit card company’s runway to more wealthy customers. Upgrade: Capital One’s acquisition of Discover will make it the largest credit card issuer in the US by loan volume, surpassing JPMorgan and Citigroup.
Two things Zuck admitted at Meta’s antitrust trial

1 week ago | morningbrew.com | Molly Liebergall

Mr. Facebook spent about 10 hours in the hot seat this week defending Meta against the FTC’s monopoly lawsuit, which seeks to undo the company’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp. Here are the highlights:Meta bought Instagram for its camera. “Building a new app is hard,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified in court. “I thought that Instagram was better at [camera functions than Facebook], so I thought it was better to buy them,” he said.
Hermès takes top luxury spot as LVMH stumbles

1 week ago | morningbrew.com | Molly Liebergall

Birkin-maker Hermès unseated the empire of ritz, Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH), as the world’s most valuable luxury company yesterday after a sour sales update triggered LVMH’s worst sell-off since 2020. Shares of LVMH lost almost 8%, bringing its market value down to $277.4 billion following the fashion/liquor giant’s report of a 3% sales dip for Q1 due to slowing demand from trade war fears. Analysts had expected 2% growth.
Nvidia says it’ll start making AI chips in the US

1 week ago | morningbrew.com | Molly Liebergall

Chip, chip, hooray: Nvidia, the world’s leading semiconductor company, plans to produce some of its AI supercomputers entirely on American soil for the first time ever, it announced yesterday. Big deal: Nvidia intends to build, test, and package up to $500 billion worth of AI devices in the US over the next four years.
The world may be entering its ‘sell America’ era

1 week ago | morningbrew.com | Molly Liebergall

With economic alarm bells ringing in the Land of the Free, analysts voiced new fears this week that global investors could spike a glass bottle on America and yell “SCATTER!”—if they haven’t already. Bird’s eye view: Markets regained some ground once President Trump announced a tariff pause, but key assets and indexes have still moved enough tofuel suspicions of a foreign retreat.
Why investors are worried about the bond market

2 weeks ago | morningbrew.com | Molly Liebergall

The bond market is like the economy’s version of “there’s always money in the banana stand,” and it’s currently drenched in gasoline. Demand for US government bonds plunged this week, signaling that investors may be losing confidence in America’s future ability to repay its debts. Panic is afoot. Treasury notes are typically considered one of the world’s safest safe-haven assets—the US has always repaid bondholders on their investment, plus yield (aka interest).
The IRS is barely auditing anymore

2 weeks ago | morningbrew.com | Molly Liebergall

The government’s gimme-money department has shrunk so much that it’s struggling to get up and work. IRS audits are at a record low and could plunge even further following President Trump’s cuts, the New York Times reported yesterday. According to NYT’s analysis of federal data:Audit rates for personal income taxes fell from ~1% (about 1 in every 100 tax returns) in 2010 to just 0.36% in 2023 (roughly 1 in 300). The audit rate fell below 0.5% in 2020 for the first time on record.
A $2.8b settlement is set to upend college sports

2 weeks ago | morningbrew.com | Molly Liebergall

Starting this fall, US colleges and universities could share athletics revenue with players for the first time ever, under a controversial settlement poised to get final approval from a federal judge as soon as today. It’s seen as the biggest structural overhaul in college sports history. If approved:Colleges would have a ~$20.5 million annual salary cap with which to pay athletes directly, rising to ~$30 million over a decade.
Stocks just had their worst day in nearly 5 years

2 weeks ago | morningbrew.com | Molly Liebergall

A free fall is technically a type of liberation: The 500 biggest public companies in the US lost a combined ~$2.5 trillion in value yesterday as investors digested President Trump’s 10% to 50% tariff on almost all imports with shock and alarm. Pretty much everything plunged:The S&P 500 fell almost 5%—its biggest single-day drop since 2020—with more than 80% of its companies finishing in the red.