Zeus: Global warming's worst summer yet sends warning in market risk

No stock sectors will escape unharmed, but some will avoid the worst of it

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June 2026 was the hottest June on record in Western Europe and the second warmest globally, says the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. Image: Severe-weather.eu.

It’s 81 degrees and sunny outside my office window in Northern California today, a perfect summer afternoon. And my local electric company, PG&E PCG 0.00%↑, is shutting off all power to our suburban San Francisco town in a few hours.

Wildfires are the threat. The sunny and dry conditions with a slight breeze that we all love about summer now spell dangerous fire conditions for towns in the new era of global warming. After losing millions in liabilities for causing wildfires over the past decade because of high winds bringing down power lines, PG&E decided a few years ago it’s just easier to turn off all the power and inconvenience thousands rather than start fires and pay millions.

Across the U.S. every single state this week has some form of power outage going on, according to USoutage.com, with California, Texas and Tennessee running highest. A searing heatwave threatens fires but also grid reliability as air conditioners roar across the country.

The thing is, we will soon look back on this summer of outages as the good old days because it is only going to get worse from here.