Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - Crippling heat

Extreme weather spurred in part by global warming is wreaking havoc across Europe. The heatwave is complicating efforts to fight wildfires and pressuring the continent’s energy infrastructure. Power stations are operating at low levels to keep temperatures in check while natural gas pipelines are limiting flows—just as demand for energy to cool homes and offices jumps. London recorded its hottest day ever at 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). Drought and high temperatures are scorching crops across Italy and France. In the US, Texas’s delicate power grid is in trouble again from heat blanketing the state and New York is set for a series of 90+ degree days, too. As Europe struggles to meet climate commitments given Vladimir Putin’s retaliation for Ukraine sanctions, the destruction of similar US climate efforts by Republicans and one Democrat—Joe Manchin of West Virginia—has the White House weighing declaring a climate emergency. And all of the extreme weather came with a warning from the United Nations: It’s going to get worse. —Margaret Sutherlin

Bloomberg is tracking the coronavirus pandemic and the progress of global vaccination efforts.

As sanctions continue to isolate Russia, Putin visited Tehran in his first visit outside the country since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February. Overnight, Kremlin forces continued to bombard the Odesa region and shelled other cities in the south and east in an apparent effort to resume an offensive in the Donetsk region. Meanwhile, Moscow is poised to restart gas exports via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany—at a reduced capacity. 

A Ukrainian woman surveys destruction near her home caused by Russian bombardments in the town of Toretske, in the Donetsk region, on July 17.   Photographer: Anatolli Stepanov/AFP

The US Secret Service has been under fire since a government inspector accused it of destroying critical evidence in the probe of the Jan. 6 insurrection—after it was asked to preserve it. The National Archives told the Secret Service to investigate why key text messages related to that day in 2021 were deleted. The bipartisan Congressional committee probing the Capitol attack says message traffic by Secret Service employees could lend insight into alleged efforts by Donald Trump to perpetrate the first coup in US history. Still, the committee says it will keep working past its initial deadline of September because more information continues to surface. The committee plans to release an interim-report of findings that month. A primetime hearing is slated for this week, on Thursday, July 21. Separately, the US Department of Justice said it would continue its sprawling criminal investigation into Jan. 6, even if Trump ran for president again. 

Twitter won an early victory in its lawsuit against billionaire Elon Musk. A Delaware judge ruled the social media platform can fast-track its lawsuit against Musk over his canceled $44 billion buyout.

Wall Street whiplash. A new survey indicated pessimism among investors, showing they cut risk asset-exposure to levels not seen during the global financial crisis. But on Tuesday, investors were nevertheless snapping up stocks: The Nasdaq surged 3% with the S&P up over 2.5%. Here’s your markets wrap.  

The biggest challenge to Xi Jinping’s leadership couldn’t come at a worse time for him—or from a more unlikely source. Middle class Chinese are boycotting mortgage payments across at least 301 projects in about 91 cities. Property makes up one fifth of China’s economic activity and some 70% of household wealth in China is tied up in real estate. For months, Xi sought to rein in Chinese developers, spurring a record wave of defaults that spooked global investors, brought at least 24 leading property companies to the brink of collapse—and wiped billions of dollars out of the bond market. Together, this all spells trouble for Xi.

Xi Jinping  Photographer: Justin Chin/Bloomberg

Unions representing teachers, doctors and other public sector workers in the UK threatened a strike after the government offered below-inflation pay raises for some 2.5 million employees. The response signals growing unrest over a cost-of-living crisis as inflation continues to surge there. A rift between the Conservative government and public sector workers risks erupting into what the UK press is calling a “summer of discontent.”

US Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler says it’s unclear if American and Chinese authorities will reach a deal to avoid the delisting of some 200 companies from US stock exchanges. The clock is ticking to avoid congressionally imposed deadline.

• US gas prices fell to their lowest in two months.
• Soros backs O’Rourke’s bid for Texas governor with $1 million.
• Rishi Sunak leads the vote to be the next UK prime minister.
• China warns against a Taiwan visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
• Ex-New York Mayor Bill De Blasio dropped out of a Congressional race. 
• Sam Bankman-Fried said the crypto winter shifted focus to profitability. 
• A China-made GPS could allow hackers to take over your car. 

Like thousands of wealthy people across China, Shanghai restaurateur Harry Hu is planning to do something he once considered unthinkable: move himself and his money out of the country. Scarred by Shanghai’s chaotic lockdown under the Covid-zero policy, Hu is joining an estimated 10,000 high-net-worth residents seeking to pull $48 billion from China this year. But will Xi Jinping let them go? 

Healthcare workers in protective gear assist residents taking Covid-19 tests in Shanghai, China, on July 19.   Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg

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