Is it hot in here or is it just the weakening trade winds over the Pacific? El Niño, a naturally occurring weather pattern, now has an 80% chance of developing by the end of August, according to the UN’s World Meteorological Organization. The phenomenon could have wide-ranging effects on the global economy, hitting everything from trade to agriculture to energy.

What is El Niño? We’ll never be able to harness Bill Nye’s raw passion for meteorological phenomena, but we can try. Every two to seven years, trade winds that normally blow from east to west weaken or reverse course over the Pacific Ocean, pushing warm waters usually headed toward Asia back to the Americas. No one is totally sure why this happens, just that when it does, it stirs up a whole bunch of weather and storm drama around the globe:

• El Niño’s effects are varied across different regions. It usually increases the temperature and dries out areas like Australia and southeast Asia, making them more susceptible to wildfires and droughts.
• Meanwhile, the southern US and Central America become more at risk of flooding.
• It can also disrupt normal weather patterns, and make hurricanes and monsoons more extreme or unpredictable.

Now put a “Super” in front of it

The odds of a “Super El Niño,” which occurs when the water in a specific area of the Pacific rises above two degrees celsius, have also jumped from 25% to 37%, according to the National Weather Service. A normal El Niño is classified by only a half a degree celsius temperature increase.

Some data suggests that a deep wave of abnormally warm water could push Pacific Ocean temps higher than they’ve been in a decade, resulting in a record-setting year for global temperatures in 2027.

Big picture: Scientists have warned that this El Niño could be supercharged by the warming climate, exacerbating already strained supply chains for everything from fertilizer to fuel. One study from Dartmouth estimated that in the five-year fallout from the 1997–1998 El Niño, there was a $5.7 trillion drop in global GDP.—MM

Trump signed a scaled-back executive order on AI. After weeks of “will he or won’t he,” President Trump quietly issued an executive order yesterday that calls for some oversight of the AI industry amid concerns over cybersecurity threats, Politico reported. Originally, Trump planned to sign an order directing the government to review new AI models 90 days before they’re released to the public. But he reportedly changed his mind at the last minute, concerned that the order would give China a competitive advantage and demanded too much regulation after he had made deregulation a policy priority. The order Trump signed yesterday reduces the voluntary government review to 30 days before public release, but is otherwise largely the same as the version he nixed last month.

Trump named Bill Pulte acting spy chief. Pulte, the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) who’s best known for accusing the president’s political enemies of mortgage fraud, will replace Tulsi Gabbard as the director of national intelligence, President Trump announced yesterday. Democrats and a few Republicans criticized the move, pointing out that Pulte has no known intelligence, national security, or military experience. Pulte made headlines last year when he alleged that New York Attorney General Letitia James, California Sen. Adam Schiff, and Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook each committed fraud. He will reportedly continue running the housing agency and serving as chairman of mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac while acting as intelligence chief.

Backrooms broke another record and is getting a sequel. Who’s ready for Backrooms 2: Even More Rooms? According to Deadline, 20-year-old director Kane Parsons is working on a sequel to the sci-fi horror movie that is dominating the box office and has launched a thousand thinkpieces about how young YouTubers are taking over Hollywood. News of a sequel comes after the film grossed $118 million in its opening weekend—the most ever for an A24 film. It also had the best Monday ever for an R-rated horror flick in June, reeling in $7.7 million to start this week. Young people are powering its success: About 86% of its audience over the weekend were under the age of 35.—AE

Your mom was right: Asking nicely is the best way to get what you want—even if what you want is to hack famous people’s Instagram accounts. That’s apparently how hackers got Meta’s AI customer support to aid them in taking over high-profile handles.

It’s unclear how many accounts were impacted, but victims appear to include the Obama White House account, the US Space Force’s chief master sergeant, and a former Meta employee turned security researcher.

It was surprisingly easy to dupe Meta’s chatbot, as purported hackers’ social media posts show. According to 404 Media:

• First, the hackers used a VPN to make themselves appear in the geographic area of the targeted account’s owner (thus bypassing automatic account protections).
• Next, they asked the Meta AI Support Assistant to add a new email address to the account, prompting the bot to send a code.
• Armed with the code, the hacker could request a password reset, which the bot then sent to the new email, thereby handing over control of the account.

But the bot won’t be rolling out the welcome mat for hackers any more. Yesterday, a Meta spokesperson said that the issue “has been resolved and we are securing impacted accounts.”

Zoom out: The bot’s blunder highlights the risks of the increasingly popular practice of handing over important business functions to AI agents.—AR

The greatest shooter in NBA history is getting it done from long distance again. Steph Curry announced a 10-year brand partnership deal with Li-Ning, a China-based sportswear company, to produce basketball gear, athleisure, and a full golf line.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Curry parted ways with a faltering Under Armour seven months ago, ending a 12-year relationship that included a shoe that was roasted like no other in 2016. With Li-Ning, the 38-year-old is looking beyond the end of his career (he sees golf as part of that future) to join a company that’s closing the gap on Nike in China:

• Li-Ning generated $4.3 billion in revenue in 2025, with 98% coming from inside China. Nike, meanwhile, earned $6.5 billion in China in its fiscal 2025.
• That’s a much smaller gap than in 2020, when Nike ($6.7b) tripled the revenue of Li-Ning ($2.2b). Curry’s new shoemaker is now on track to outsell Nike in China by 2030.

Nike’s foothold in China is slipping. In the last four full years, the Swoosh has seen sales fall in its Greater China market, which includes Taiwan, by 20% as the company grapples with stiffer domestic competition.

Mutually beneficial: While this team-up will bolster Curry’s already immense popularity in the world’s second-largest basketball market, it’s also an opportunity for Li-Ning to make financial inroads in the US.—DL

On Wednesdays, the Brew’s Sam Klebanov highlights a fascinating stock, commodity, or other asset that’s worth your attention.

Sam is off this week, but the market is not, so I (Adam) am here with your stock of the week. And it’s not one stock, but several: Dell, Nokia, and Lenovo. Remember those guys?

The forgotten tech companies of the 1990s are relevant once more as the AI boom broadens to the “boring hardware space,” one expert told Bloomberg. Companies that manufacture anything even tangentially related to AI—computer servers, chips, networking gear, storage components, etc.—are riding the wave:

• Dell, the company that made the PC on which you played Neopets and were dumped by your crush over AIM, soared 33% on Friday—it’s biggest one-day gain ever.
• Shares of Nokia are up 124% this year.
• Lenovo shares ballooned 105% in May, its best month in 25+ years.

When combined with Micron, Cisco, Intel, and Texas Instruments, the seven ‘90s darlings have added a total $1.7 trillion in market value this year, per Bloomberg. What’s next, Tamagotchi? Sock’em Boppers?—AE