📊 European Heat Dome, War Powers, and AI Stock Slump

Record temperatures, Senate rebuke, and mass selloff.

Jun 24, 2026

Greetings! Happy Olympic Day to those celebrating.

Let’s get into today’s top stories.

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🌎 GLOBAL NEWS

🇪🇺 Heat dome bakes Europe. Europe is sweltering under an early heat wave. Millions of people are facing extreme temperatures across the continent. Experts say a heat dome is the likely driver. Mireia Ginesta, a research associate at Oxford’s Climate Litigation Lab, said heat domes are stationary high-pressure systems. They trap dangerous heat and humidity for days. The pattern begins when the jet stream bends northward. The jet stream is a fast river of high-altitude wind. That bend lets sinking air compress and warm. Jennifer Francis, a climate scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center, said the heat dome is the jet stream’s structure. The heat wave is what people feel at the surface. France, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom (UK) are among the affected countries. France has placed about half the country under a red heat alert. Officials reported around 40 drowning deaths as people sought relief in water. Temperatures may reach 104 degrees Fahrenheit, or 40 degrees Celsius. Climate change has turned summer from season into pressure system.

🇮🇷 Iran inspections split talks. American and Iranian officials disputed Tuesday whether Tehran agreed to United Nations (UN) nuclear inspections. The dispute emerged as technical teams kept working in Switzerland. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also met Pakistani mediators in Islamabad. The talks are meant to make the war-ending framework permanent. A separate plan is forming to clear the Strait of Hormuz shipping bottleneck. The International Maritime Organization (IMO), a UN agency, said a plan would move 11K stranded crew members through the strait. Iran had blocked the passage after American and Israeli strikes launched the war on February 28th. Esmail Baghaei, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said UN inspectors were not scheduled to examine bombed nuclear sites. He rejected comments made by Vice President JD Vance a day earlier. President Trump said he would cut off talks if Iran had not agreed to inspections. Trump also said there was no rush for inspections to begin. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has not commented on its possible role. It has moved in and out of Iran since Israel’s 12-day war in 2025. It has not accessed bombed enrichment sites targeted by American strikes. Negotiators are again discovering that the hardest clause is the one everyone claims already exists.

🇺🇸 LOCAL NEWS

🏛️ Senate rebukes Trump on Iran. The Senate approved a war powers resolution Tuesday for the first time. The measure seeks to block American military action against Iran. It passed 50-48 after 9 earlier Senate attempts failed. The House approved its version earlier this month. The resolution is largely symbolic and does not carry full force of law. Still, it marks a congressional rebuke of President Trump’s Iran war. The administration launched the conflict without Congress and now needs funding. The Pentagon is seeking $80B, mostly for the Iran war. Four Republicans backed the resolution. They were Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. Democratic Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania voted no. Republican Senators Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania missed the vote. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer called the war a historic blunder. Trump is expected to meet Republican senators Wednesday. Congress found its voice late, which is still earlier than never.

⚖️ Texas protesters get decades. Eight people were sentenced Tuesday to decades in federal prison. The case stems from a 2025 shooting at a Texas immigration detention center. The shooting wounded a police officer during a demonstration. Benjamin Song, a former Marine reservist, received 100 years in prison. Prosecutors said Song opened fire outside the Prairieland Detention Center near Dallas. The seven other defendants received sentences ranging from 30 to 70 years. Prosecutors called the crime terrorism. They said the defendants had ties to antifa. Defense lawyers denied those ties. Family members criticized the sentences as extreme. Federal Judge Reed O’Connor said the episode was not a protest but an assault on democracy. All but one of the eight defendants sentenced Tuesday were convicted on terrorism charges. The Justice Department said it was the first sentencing of defendants it described as antifa-affiliated. Defense attorneys said protesters brought firearms for self-protection. A protest case became a national test of violence, labels, and punishment.

🗂️ MISC

🧠 AI stocks meet gravity. Investors are questioning whether the artificial intelligence (AI) boom can justify its bill. Big technology companies have been spending heavily on AI systems and data centers. Alphabet ($GOOGL), Amazon ($AMZN), Meta Platforms ($META), and Microsoft ($MSFT) plan up to $720B in spending this year. Much of that money is aimed at AI data centers. Amazon and Alphabet each fell about 5% Monday. Chip names led the broader weakness Tuesday. Nvidia ($NVDA), Micron Technology ($MU), Broadcom ($AVGO), and Lam Research ($LRCX) all came under pressure. Alphabet is raising $80B by selling stock. It plans to spend as much as $190B this year. Amazon sold $54B of bonds in March. It plans roughly $200B in AI spending this year. Marvell Technology ($MRVL) has more than tripled this year. Sandisk ($SNDK) has soared more than 700%. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (S&P 500) trades around 25 times earnings. The AI trade still believes in the future, but the invoice has arrived.

📉 Big Tech drags markets lower. Wall Street gave back recent gains Tuesday. Selling in Big Tech spread from Asia back to American markets. Investors grew worried about higher interest rates later this year. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (S&P 500) fell 1.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.1%. The Nasdaq composite dropped 2.2%. South Korea’s Kospi sank 10%. European stocks also fell. The selloff focused on companies lifted by artificial intelligence (AI) enthusiasm. More S&P 500 stocks rose than fell, but tech losses overpowered the broader market. Micron Technology ($MU) slumped 13.2%. Nvidia ($NVDA) fell 4.1%. Samsung Electronics ($005930.KS) dropped 12.3% in South Korea. Wall Street sees an 85% chance that the Federal Reserve (Fed) raises rates this year. Markets learned again that concentration can look like leadership until it starts pulling the sled downhill.