Daily Brew // Morning Brew // Update

July 02, 2026

Greetings. Did you know that today is the real Independence Day? The Continental Congress formally declared freedom from Great Britain on July 2, 1776, but approved the Declaration of Independence two days later. John Adams was so sure that July 2 would be the date of the holiday that he wrote, “It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires, and Illuminations.”

However, it’s difficult for historians to know how legit this is, because Adams was always trying to get shews added to everything.

—Matty Merritt, Dave Lozo, Molly Liebergall, Holly Van Leuven, Abby Rubenstein

In today’s newsletter, we’ll get into:

Meta’s potential new business
Trump’s crypto windfall
A café capitalizing on its owner’s reality TV fame

MARKETS

Nasdaq

26,040.03

-0.66%

S&P

7,483.23

-0.22%

Dow

52,305.24

-0.03%

10-Year

4.475%

+6.0 bps

Bitcoin

$60,759.99

+3.77%

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WORLD

Tour de headlines

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

President Trump made $1.2 billion from crypto last year. Financial disclosures released yesterday show that Trump made $500+ million from his World Liberty Financial business’s sales of crypto products and $600+ million from CIC Digital’s sales of memecoins bearing his face, according to the AP. That means that as the president pushed for crypto-friendly regulation, his crypto investments paid off even more than his family real estate empire. Ethics groups have criticized the president, saying that the growth of Trump’s businesses while in office presents a conflict of interest. Trump brushed off concerns yesterday, saying the stock market was going up and, “We’re all profiting. I’m profiting because I have a lot of money and a lot of cash.”

The US declined to renew a trade deal with Canada and Mexico. Though the treaty will remain in effect for ten years (as long as no country tries to leave it), the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) will now be subject to annual reviews, after a deadline passed yesterday with the US not opting for a longer-term renewal. This could lead to renegotiations of major parts of the USMCA, which President Trump signed during his first term. The decision adds new uncertainty for businesses that move goods across the busy borders, including many in the auto, farming, retail, and energy industries.

You can now own a piece of AOL and other old internet brands. Bending Spoons, the company that’s been buying up brands you used to rely on, like AOL, Eventbrite, and Vimeo, made its public debut on the Nasdaq yesterday. The Italian firm soared nearly 40% in its first day of trading, giving the company a market value of $25.7 billion after it raised $1.68 billion in its IPO. The post-IPO bump for a company valued at $11 billion last October comes as the market for new stocks remains hot.—AR

DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY

Paying back your student loans just got harder

Andrew Lichtenstein/Getty Images

If you need a little help paying for four years of ~~beer pong~~ higher education, getting it could be more challenging. New rules that began yesterday will cap the amount you can borrow and increase some monthly repayments.

Here’s some of what’s changing for borrowing:

Parents borrowing on behalf of undergraduate students will be limited to $20,000 annually and to $65,000 total.
Graduate school borrowing is capped at $100,000 over the course of the program, down from $138,500, but the limit for those pursuing professional degrees, like medicine or law, was raised from $20,500 to $50,000 per year. The Education Department’s plan to exclude some professional fields from the increase, like nursing and accounting, is on hold pending legal challenges.

A bad RAP? For repayment, new borrowers must choose between the Tiered Standard Plan and the new Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP)—monthly payments for the latter will be 1%–10% of a borrower’s income. Experts say borrowers will pay more under RAP than similar income-based repayment plans. The approximately 7 million people enrolled in the SAVE plan, which expired yesterday, must switch to RAP or another plan within 90 days.

On Tuesday, a judge blocked the Trump administration from implementing a rule that would deny public service workers access to student loan forgiveness if their employers had a “substantial illegal purpose.” The challengers argued it would allow Trump to target groups he disfavors, like those that support immigration rights and transgender ⁠healthcare.—DL

Three Headlines and a Lie

Three of these headlines are real and one is faker than a quick computer restart. Can you spot the odd one out?

Rafael Nadal eats anchovies for breakfast
Fossil kept in drawer for decades turns out to be first ever Antarctica dinosaur bone
Scotland bans falling down a well for attention
Neil the 1,000kg southern elephant seal is back, sows mayhem in Tasmania

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ANSWER

We made up the one about Scotland’s ban.

Word of the Day

Today’s Word of the Day is: mayhem, meaning “needless or willful damage or violence.” Thanks to Rick Stel from Wisconsin for the chaotic suggestion. Submit another Word of the Day here.

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