First an Energy Crisis. Now El Niño?

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

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Luke Vargas (0:18)

Zohran Mamdani leaves his mark on New York's congressional delegation, boosting his standing as a Democratic kingmaker.

Plus, President Trump threatens big oil with a DOJ probe over prices at the pump. And we'll look at how El Nino could be the global economy's next big test.

Frederic Neumann (0:35)

We already had expected rising food prices. Now that we have an extra layer of very volatile weather, high temperatures, drought, that's going to just exacerbate the stress on farmers, on the agricultural sector.

Luke Vargas (0:50)

It's Wednesday, June 24th. I'm Luke Vargas for The Wall Street Journal. And here is the AM Edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories moving your world today.

We begin in New York, where three congressional candidates backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani have prevailed in primary races over more mainstream Democratic opponents. In a sign of the powerful anti-incumbent wave playing out this year, 32-year-old community organizer and Democratic socialist leader Darielisa Avila-Chiavalier defeated Representative Adriano Espeat, the chairman of the Hispanic Congressional Caucus. Despite him making history just a decade ago by becoming the first formerly undocumented immigrant to be elected to Congress, Avila-Chiavalier used her victory speech last night, heard here courtesy of Spectrum News, to cast him as out of touch.

Darielisa Avila-Chiavalier (1:44)

Doing nothing about the affordability crisis and looking the other way while the real estate corporations that funded his campaign raised our rents and priced us out of the community that we love.

Luke Vargas (1:55)

In a fourth closely watched house primary, Assemblyman Michael Asher defeated a crowded field that included Jack Schlossberg, grandson of President John F. Kennedy. And in South Carolina, Alan Wilson coasted to victory in a Republican primary runoff to be the state's next governor. President Trump had initially backed Wilson's opponent, but hedged his bets in the waning days of the campaign and endorsed both candidates.

Back in Washington, Congress has passed its most ambitious housing legislation since the 1980s, aiming to ease federal regulations and boost home construction. President Trump is expected to sign the bill into law as soon as today. However, developers are responding with a shrug, noting that the bipartisan package lacks new funding and cannot alter the local zoning laws that block development. And for more on the housing bill, check out the latest episode of Your Money Briefing, where journal reporters Rebecca Pichotto and Paul Kiernan join What's News host Alex Ossola to explain what the bill means for Americans. We've left a link to that in our show notes.

Heading overseas, a heat wave that's descended over much of Europe this week is peaking today, leading to widespread school closures, travel disruptions, and a surge in heat-related deaths. London, Brussels, and Frankfurt will see temps in the mid-90s today, while Paris and Madrid are set to breach 100 And while those numbers may not phase US listeners, consider that 9 in 10 Americans have air conditioning compared to roughly 1 in 20 Brits, something UN. Secretary General Antonio Guterres noted during remarks at a Gothic event space in London yesterday.

Antonio Guterres (3:33)

These city and far beyond are experiencing the hottest day of the year with higher temperatures to come.

London isn't just calling. It's cooking.

Around the world, climate disasters are becoming more frequent, more destructive and more costly.

Luke Vargas (3:54)

Last year's European heatwaves cost the continent an estimated 43 billion euros. And according to research from Allianz, the current trajectory of intensifying heatwaves could sap European economies of between 5% and 7% of their GDP by the end of the decade.

President Trump is criticizing oil companies for not lowering gasoline prices in line with a recent pullback in crude. Posting on True Social, the president said that customers are being gouged and that he's instructed the DOJ to immediately start looking into the situation. However, as Markets editor Alex Frangos says, the logic of the probe misses the reality of how gasoline prices work.

Alex Frangos (4:36)

What you put in your gas tank is not oil, it's gasoline. So it has to go from the oil well through a pipeline to a refinery. It has to get refined. It has to get in another pipeline and get to your gas station. So there's just a time element for the price to trickle through.

The other thing is all the gas station owners, when the prices were going way up, their profit margins got squeezed massively and then they had to go out and buy much more expensive gasoline. They're sitting on that inventory. They're eating through it. They're not going to lower prices while they're still selling the gas that they paid higher prices for. So that's why it takes time for the prices to drop. But we've been through this many, many, many times and politicians are often very frustrated at the way the market works, but the market does work and the lower prices you see that get quoted on the news every evening, they will eventually get to the gas pump.