2026 has got to be one of the most bizarre years ever. Hundreds of gigantic wildfires are raging all across the northern hemisphere, commercial vessels are being hit by cruise missiles in the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, our reserves of oil and natural gas are running extremely low, the war in Ukraine has escalated to a very dangerous level, an epic drought is drying up major rivers in Europe, global food production has been thrown into chaos by a Super El Niño, and the fastest growing Ebola outbreak in history is ripping across the Democratic Republic of the Congo. But despite everything that I just mentioned, the stock market just continues to go even higher. In fact, the Dow Jones Industrial Average just soared to yet another new record high on Tuesday.
How are we supposed to explain this?
It certainly isn’t rational.
Just about every other day, President Trump is threatening to unleash an apocalyptic attack on Iran. The following illustration was created by JBN Eddie…
That image made me smile because it makes a great point.
Sometimes I feel like I am watching a tennis match because we keep going back and forth over and over again.
Today, we are once again being told that a deal to open the Strait of Hormuz is almost done…
“I think the immediate deal, the one that there is focus on, is the Straits,” he added, referring to the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb, two key Middle Eastern energy chokepoints that have been periodically closed by Iran and its Houthi allies over the course of the war.
“The Straits are open,” Rubio said, repeating a line often touted by the Trump administration. “Nonetheless, I think that there’s a conversation and a negotiation – that we are involved in – between Oman and Iran on how more ships can be able to go through there safely in the short term as we move towards the longer-term talks about denuclearization.”
“Suffice it to say there’s been progress made in those talks but not finality yet,” he said. “We’re hoping that will happen very shortly.”
The Iranians have always said that they would open up the Strait of Hormuz if we give them everything that they want, and apparently that is precisely what this “deal” would do…
Even if we were to accept such a ridiculous deal, the Iranians will never make the nuclear concessions that Trump is seeking, and so that puts us all the way back to square one.
Iran’s nuclear program is the core issue, and that issue is not going to be resolved any time soon.
But investors don’t care.
They just keep pushing stock prices to heights that we have never seen before.
Meanwhile, the number of confirmed Ebola cases and the number of confirmed Ebola deaths in the Democratic Republic of the Congo continue to explode…
Ebola has killed more than 1,700 people in eastern Congo in what has become the fastest-growing outbreak of the disease, according to data — spreading faster than health officials can track and with patient zero still unidentified.
As of Tuesday, 3,802 cases had been recorded, with 1,707 deaths, the latest government update showed.
If this thing starts spreading in the western world, we will see panic that will far surpass anything that we witnessed during the last pandemic.
At the same time, a seemingly endless drought is drying up major rivers throughout Western Europe…
A drought is wreaking havoc along Europe’s rivers.
In Romania, authorities set off an explosion beside a river in a bid to divert much-needed water to a power plant. In Bulgaria, almost 200 vacationers had to be evacuated from a stranded cruise ship. In Germany’s industrial heartlands, companies are curbing production and struggling to ship goods.
None of us have ever seen anything like this in our entire lifetimes.
At this point, the Rhine River has fallen to the lowest level ever recorded…
The River Rhine has fallen to record low levels in several locations in Germany and the Netherlands as prolonged heatwaves continue across Europe.
Last week, levels were measured in Cologne in western Germany and in Lobith, where the Rhine crosses from Germany into the Netherlands, that were lower than at any point since records began.
Other major European rivers with important transport, industrial and agricultural functions have also seen record low levels, including the Danube, which flows through 10 countries, and Italy’s Po river.
And the Danube River has dropped so low that the hulls of dozens of German warships that were sunk during World War II are now visible…
Water levels on the Danube River, the second longest in Europe, have dropped so low because of drought that the hulks of dozens of World War II German battleships — and even the remains of an ancient woolly mammoth — are emerging into view.
They are a curious distraction from the summer heat crisis. The Danube’s record-low water levels have also forced power plants to the brink of shutting down, and governments across Central and Eastern Europe are taking steps to conserve electricity.
This is what a “Super El Niño” looks like.
When conditions are this hot and this dry for such a long time, it is inevitable that there will be lots of wildfires.
Large sections of France and Spain have been burning like crazy.
And earlier today, I wrote about the unprecedented wildfires that we have been witnessing in Oregon and Washington.
Overall, nearly 5.3 million acres have burned in the United States so far this year…
The 2026 wildfire season got off to an early above-normal start in the U.S. Thus far this year, nearly 5.3 million acres of land have burned across the country, well above the 10-year average of 3.7 million acres for this time of year. On July 18, the National Preparedness Level was raised to 5, the highest level, a sign of the extreme fire dangers and high level of resources committed to fight fires.
Investors can see the world burning all around them, but then they go out and just buy more stocks.
In addition to fueling an epic wildfire season, the terrible droughts caused by the Super El Niño of 2026 are also playing havoc with global food production.
Australia is normally one of the top wheat exporters in the entire world, but for the 2026-2027 marketing year it is being projected they will produce 26 percent less wheat…
The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences estimated Australia’s wheat production for the marketing year 2026-27 (October-September), at 26.7 million metric tons, down 26% year over year.
Rice production is also being deeply affected all over the globe.
Here in the United States, we are being told that total rice production will be the lowest in almost 40 years…
USDA’s July World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report, released July 10, projects U.S. rice production at its lowest level in nearly four decades. Total rice production is estimated at 153.3 million cwt, which would be the smallest crop since 1987.
Long-grain rice, the predominant type grown in the Midsouth, is projected at just 104.1 million cwt, its lowest level since 1993. The total rice production estimate was lowered by nearly 13% from the June 2026 WASDE following the reduction in planted acreage reported in USDA’s June Acreage report.
Total U.S. rice planted acreage is estimated at 2.02 million acres in 2026, its lowest level since 1972. Acreage is projected to decline in every major rice-producing state, with several states reaching historically low levels.
If you eat a lot of rice, I would stock up now.
Prices are only going to go higher from here.
On top of everything else that I have shared in this article, we are closer to nuclear war with Russia than ever before.
Long-range missiles provided by western nations are hitting targets deep inside Russian territory, and long-range Ukrainian drones continue to strike very sensitive installations that are located very close to large Russian cities…
Ukrainian drones hit three warehouses in Russia in overnight attacks that killed five people, local officials said on Tuesday, as the strikes intensify pressure on the operations of online retailer Wildberries.
Often described as Russia’s answer to Amazon, Wildberries has become a frequent target of Ukrainian attacks in recent weeks, part of what Kyiv says is a campaign to bring the war home to ordinary Russians.
The company said fire crews were containing a blaze after the latest attack struck one of its warehouses near St Petersburg. In the Tver region, northwest of Moscow, drones damaged another Wildberries facility, local authorities said.
Let me ask you a question.
What would the United States do if someone started hitting Amazon warehouses in this country with military drones night after night?
By striking these warehouses, the Ukrainians are causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage…
Not a lot of folks outside the former Soviet space have heard of Wildberries, the Russian answer to Amazon—but the company is starting to make news, because it is on fire. In recent weeks, Ukrainian drones have burned eight of its logistics hubs, outside Moscow and St. Petersburg, in Krasnodar, and in occupied Simferopol. More than a tenth of its warehouse capacity is gone. Rebuilding it will cost some $460 million, and the merchandise incinerated inside—most belonging to small Russian sellers now describing their ruin—may run to billions more.
It is not the only crisis. Ukrainian strikes have also taken a quarter of Russian refining capacity offline, forcing rationing in more than half the country’s regions. One of the world’s largest energy exporters cannot fuel its own cars.
This war just keeps escalating.
Almost every night now, the Ukrainians and the Russians are exchanging absolutely brutal attacks…
At this point, there are hundreds of drones sent on Russia each night, which Ukraine describes as retaliation for heavy Russian ballistic missile attacks on its cities.
The Russian Defense Ministry announced Tuesday morning that 320 Ukrainian drones were intercepted and destroyed inside Russia in the prior 12 hours across several regions. It has decried these as terror attacks against civilians, including a horrific drone strike on a crowded beach.
The Russians are rapidly losing patience with Ukraine.
Many pundits on Russian television are openly calling for President Vladimir Putin to use nuclear weapons against the Ukrainians.
If that happens, we will suddenly find ourselves in a nuclear showdown with Russia.
But for the moment, happy days are here again for just about everyone on Wall Street.
On Tuesday, the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average both smashed their old record highs…
Stocks had a banner day Tuesday, with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average scaling to fresh record highs, thanks to strong earnings and another decline in oil prices driven by hope that the Strait of Hormuz could be reopened.
The broad market index gained 1.8% and hit a fresh high for the first time since June, while the Nasdaq Composite popped 2.6%, as Palantir Technologies rallied 29%. The Dow surged 907 points, or 1.7%, led by a 6% rise in Caterpillar, surpassing its intraday record from last month.
The general consensus on Wall Street is that all of the troubles that we are facing now are just temporary.
Of course I disagree.
I believe that all of the troubles that we are facing now are just a preview of much bigger troubles that are ahead.
But investors don’t want to hear that.
What they want to hear is that stock prices will just keep going higher and higher.
So for now the buying frenzy continues, but it will not last forever.
Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.
About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing. You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter. Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites. These are such troubled times, and people need hope. John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.
