HARTFORD, Conn. — The high-energy, fan-focused version of baseball known as Banana Ball returned to Hartford this week, bringing three sold-out games to Dunkin’ Park and a temporary downtown street closure that will remain in effect through the weekend, according to city police.

The Hartford Police Department said in a statement that Trumbull Street between Main Street and Market Street will be closed until noon on Sunday, July 26, to accommodate preparations for and operation of the event. “Motorists are encouraged to plan ahead, use alternate routes, and allow extra travel time when traveling through downtown Hartford during this period,” police said in the announcement.

A sold-out weekend of Banana Ball

The Banana Ball World Tour brought its traveling brand of entertainment-focused baseball to Dunkin’ Park for games scheduled Thursday, Friday and Saturday, July 23 through 25, featuring the Party Animals facing off against the Indianapolis Clowns. All three games sold out well in advance, with tickets originally distributed through a lottery system that opened last October and closed on Nov. 1, 2025.

This marks the second time Banana Ball has come to Hartford, following a sold-out visit from the Savannah Bananas and Party Animals in 2023. The Hartford Yard Goats, the Double-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies that operates Dunkin’ Park, partnered with the Savannah Bananas organization to bring the tour back to the city for an expanded three-game run this year.

What Banana Ball is

Banana Ball is a fast-paced, entertainment-driven version of baseball created by the Savannah Bananas, a professional team based in Savannah, Georgia, that plays its regular home games at Historic Grayson Stadium but travels extensively for its World Tour. The format includes a two-hour time limit on games, no walks allowed, and a distinctive rule in which foul balls caught by fans in the stands count as outs, among other modifications designed to keep games moving quickly and maximize fan engagement.

Beyond the modified rules, Banana Ball games are known for choreographed performances, trick plays and unconventional showmanship that has become central to the format’s appeal, including moments like players backflipping while catching fly balls, games played in kilts, and a dancing first base coach who has become one of the tour’s signature attractions.

Growing beyond the original team

What began as a single-team spectacle centered on the Savannah Bananas has expanded significantly in recent years to include multiple traveling teams playing under the same Banana Ball rules. The Indianapolis Clowns, making their Hartford debut this week, represent the newest addition to the circuit, drawing on the name and legacy of a historic Negro Leagues team that once featured Hall of Famer Hank Aaron. The current iteration of the Clowns is led by former Philadelphia Phillies star Ryan Howard. The Party Animals, known for their players’ on-field antics and viral social media highlights, are making their second appearance in Hartford after their 2023 visit.

A cultural phenomenon

The Savannah Bananas organization has built an outsized public profile in recent years, drawing coverage from major outlets including ESPN, The Wall Street Journal, CNN and Sports Illustrated. The team has also become a dominant presence on social media, amassing roughly 11 million followers on TikTok, a figure that reportedly exceeds the combined social media following of every individual team in the NHL, NFL, MLB and NBA on that platform.

That popularity has translated directly into ticket demand for the World Tour’s stops across the country, with games regularly selling out major and minor league ballparks alike. The tour’s 2026 schedule includes stops at stadiums including Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, where the Bananas expanded their visit to three weekend games in June after selling out two games there in 2025.

Hartford officials express enthusiasm

Ahead of this year’s Hartford stop, Yard Goats President Tim Restall expressed excitement about the tour’s return to Dunkin’ Park. “We are really excited that the Banana Ball is returning to Hartford and Dunkin’ Park for three games next summer as part of its world tour,” Restall said when the visit was first announced last October. “It will be fun to watch our fans sing, dance, and enjoy the fun atmosphere that Banana Ball brings to our community.”

Ticket access and pricing

Fans hoping to secure tickets for this year’s Hartford games were directed to register for the official Banana Ball ticket lottery through bananaball.com/tickets, with registration remaining open until the list closed last November. Standard tickets for the event started at $35, with meet-and-greet packages available starting at $100, and group hospitality options, including buffet service, offered separately through the Yard Goats organization. Joining the lottery list did not guarantee the ability to purchase tickets, given the high demand the format has generated at prior stops around the country.

A broader traffic advisory

Beyond the specific Trumbull Street closure identified by Hartford police, local officials have advised that the broader downtown area surrounding Dunkin’ Park is likely to experience increased congestion throughout the three-day run of games, given the sold-out crowds expected each night. Residents and commuters navigating the area were encouraged to check for updated advisories from the city as the event weekend continued.

With Saturday marking the final scheduled Banana Ball game in Hartford this year, the Trumbull Street closure is expected to lift by noon Sunday, restoring normal traffic patterns to the area following the event’s conclusion. The tour itself continues to additional stops around the country as part of its broader 2026 schedule, with the Savannah Bananas organization and its affiliated teams continuing to draw sold-out crowds at ballparks nationwide as the format’s popularity continues to grow.

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NEW YORK — U.S. stocks fell sharply Thursday morning as investors reacted to the first major earnings reports from the technology sector’s biggest names, with rising concerns over ballooning artificial intelligence spending outweighing otherwise solid quarterly results.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 51,696.00 as of 10:51 a.m. Eastern time, down 522.58 points, or 1.00%, on the day. The decline followed a nearly flat session Wednesday, when the Dow closed at 52,218.58, down just 6.06 points.

A rough morning across the board

Thursday’s selloff extended well beyond the Dow. The S&P 500 dropped roughly 1.08%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite tumbled about 2.1%, leading the broader market retreat as investors digested a wave of earnings reports from some of the market’s most closely watched companies.

What triggered the drop

The decline came after Alphabet and Tesla, two of the so-called “Magnificent Seven” megacap technology companies, both reported second-quarter results after Wednesday’s closing bell. Alphabet posted a fundamentally strong quarter, but the Google parent company’s decision to raise its capital expenditure outlook rattled investors who have grown increasingly focused on whether massive AI infrastructure spending is translating into proportional returns. Shares of Alphabet fell in the wake of the report despite the underlying strength of its results.

Tesla added to the cautious tone. Chief Executive Elon Musk told investors that 2026 would be a “massive capex year” for the company, emphasizing continued heavy investment in areas including its Optimus robotics program, robotaxi expansion and data center buildout, comments that further fed into broader market anxiety about the scale of spending commitments being made across the technology sector without clear near-term payoff.

A market already on edge over AI valuations

Thursday’s reaction reflects a broader tension that has been building in markets throughout the year: even as major technology companies continue posting strong headline results, investors have grown more skeptical about whether the enormous sums being poured into AI infrastructure will generate returns commensurate with the spending. That skepticism has made capital expenditure guidance, rather than quarterly revenue or profit figures alone, an increasingly important factor in how markets respond to Big Tech earnings.

The pattern was evident even before Thursday’s session. Markets had already shown signs of rotating away from momentum-driven AI trades in the days leading up to this week’s earnings reports, with semiconductor stocks posting losses amid a broader search for the next catalyst to sustain the AI trade that has powered much of the market’s gains over the past two years.

Oil prices and bond yields add pressure

Beyond the technology earnings, rising oil prices and climbing bond yields also weighed on sentiment Thursday. Crude prices have continued climbing this week, extending gains tied to prolonged military exchanges between the United States and Iran, with Brent crude futures settling above $94 per barrel Wednesday, their highest level in more than a month. The 10-year Treasury yield has also pushed higher, retesting levels last seen in May near the start of the Iran conflict, adding another layer of pressure on equity valuations.

A volatile stretch for markets

Thursday’s losses continue what has been a choppy week for U.S. stocks. The Dow fell 307.16 points, or 0.59%, on Monday amid renewed volatility tied to the U.S.-Iran conflict, before trading essentially flat on Wednesday as markets awaited the week’s marquee earnings reports. That back-and-forth pattern reflects a market caught between genuinely strong corporate performance in some sectors and growing unease about elevated valuations, aggressive AI-related capital spending, and geopolitical risk factors that have shown no sign of resolving quickly.

A different read from Wall Street veterans

Not all voices on Wall Street have expressed alarm about the market’s current trajectory. Stifel Financial Chairman and CEO Ron Kruszewski struck an optimistic tone in a recent television interview, describing ongoing concerns about the national deficit, dollar weakness and inflation as standard, recurring business challenges rather than signs of deeper structural trouble. At the same time, Kruszewski identified the rapid rise of artificial intelligence itself as a more significant risk factor for markets going forward, a view that aligns with the caution investors have shown this week around AI-related capital spending specifically.

What else is on deck this week

Alphabet and Tesla represent just the first two of the “Magnificent Seven” companies to report second-quarter results this earnings season, with additional major reports still ahead. Other companies scheduled to report in the coming days include IBM and Intel, both of which are expected to offer further data points on enterprise technology spending and semiconductor demand that could either reinforce or ease the concerns driving Thursday’s selloff.

What investors are watching next

With earnings season still in its early stages, market participants are likely to remain highly sensitive to any additional signals about AI-related capital spending plans from the remaining megacap technology companies still scheduled to report. Given how sharply markets reacted to Alphabet’s raised spending guidance despite an otherwise strong quarter, investors appear to be applying a higher bar for what counts as a good outcome this earnings season, one that increasingly requires companies to demonstrate a credible path toward monetizing their AI investments rather than simply continuing to increase spending.

For now, Thursday’s decline leaves the Dow down more than 500 points on the session, underscoring how quickly sentiment can shift even amid a backdrop of genuinely strong corporate earnings, when investors begin to question the sustainability of the spending driving those results in the first place.

Thousands of M&T Bank customers reported being locked out of their accounts Thursday morning, unable to access the bank’s mobile app or online banking platform in what appeared to be a widespread service disruption affecting users across multiple states.

Outage-tracking service Downdetector said user reports indicating problems with M&T Bank began climbing at 7:29 a.m. Eastern time, prompting the hashtag #MTBankDown to circulate on social media as affected customers sought answers. According to outage-monitoring service StatusGator, complaints had actually begun surging even earlier, around 5:45 a.m. Eastern, suggesting the disruption started well before it registered widely on public tracking platforms.

What customers are experiencing

Affected users reported being unable to log into either the M&T Bank mobile app or the bank’s website, with some encountering “Mobile Banking Unavailable” error messages on both Android and iPhone devices. Others described being unable to complete routine banking tasks, including checking account balances and transferring funds, after successfully logging in. As of Thursday afternoon, outage-tracking data showed complaint volume remaining elevated, with more than 500 user reports still active on Downdetector hours after the disruption first began.

M&T Bank had not issued an official statement confirming the cause of the outage as of Thursday afternoon, though the scale and consistency of user reports across multiple tracking platforms strongly suggested a genuine, widespread service issue rather than isolated, localized problems.

A bank with a history of similar issues

Thursday’s disruption is not the first time M&T Bank customers have experienced widespread digital banking outages. According to StatusGator’s incident history, the bank has faced several previous service disruptions over the past year, including a 22-minute login outage detected as recently as July 10, a nearly two-hour outage on July 9, and a more serious incident last September in which customers reported both mobile banking outages and missing direct deposits, prompting the bank to issue a public statement at the time confirming the technical issues and later announcing that services had been fully restored.

That pattern of recurring, if generally short-lived, service disruptions has made M&T Bank a relatively frequent presence on outage-tracking platforms compared with some other regional banks, even though most individual incidents have historically been resolved within a few hours.

About M&T Bank

M&T Bank is a regional financial institution headquartered in Buffalo, New York, serving individual, business and institutional customers across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast United States with a broad range of banking products, including checking and savings accounts, mortgages, business lending and wealth management services. The bank is one of the larger regional lenders in its footprint, making any widespread disruption to its digital banking platforms a significant inconvenience for a substantial customer base that relies on mobile and online access for day-to-day banking needs.

How outage tracking works

Downdetector and similar services compile their data primarily from user-submitted reports rather than direct access to a company’s internal systems, meaning spikes in complaints reflect customer experience rather than a confirmed technical diagnosis from the bank itself. Outage-tracking platforms typically classify a service as experiencing a “likely” or “possible” outage once the volume of reports significantly exceeds the typical baseline for a given time of day, a threshold Thursday’s reports appeared to cross well before 8 a.m. Eastern.

What affected customers can do

For customers currently unable to access their accounts, outage-tracking services and consumer technology outlets have offered several general troubleshooting suggestions, including updating the M&T Bank mobile app to its latest version, clearing browser cache and cookies before attempting to log into online banking, and trying an alternative access point, such as an ATM, for time-sensitive banking needs. Customers experiencing more urgent issues, such as missing direct deposits or unauthorized account activity, are generally advised to contact the bank’s customer service line directly, since app-based troubleshooting is unlikely to resolve a server-side outage.

Customers can also check M&T Bank’s official online banking status page, when available, for any formal updates the bank may issue as its technical team investigates and resolves the underlying problem.

No timeline for resolution

As of Thursday afternoon, there was no indication of when the disruption might be resolved, and M&T Bank had not provided a public timeline or root-cause explanation for the outage. Based on the bank’s handling of previous incidents, including the multi-hour outage last September, a formal statement acknowledging the issue and confirming restoration of service would typically be expected only after the underlying technical problem has been identified and fixed, rather than during the early hours of an active disruption.

What to watch for

Customers looking for real-time updates on the status of their accounts are encouraged to monitor outage-tracking platforms directly or check M&T Bank’s official social media channels and website for any formal acknowledgment of the issue. Given the bank’s history of resolving similar disruptions within a matter of hours, Thursday’s outage may well follow a similar pattern, though the exact timeline remains uncertain until M&T Bank issues its own confirmation.

For now, the disruption adds M&T Bank to a growing list of financial institutions and consumer platforms that have experienced high-profile digital outages this year, underscoring how dependent everyday banking has become on mobile and online infrastructure, and how disruptive even a brief technical failure can be for customers trying to manage routine financial tasks.

Operator

Greetings, and welcome to the MaxLinear Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

It is now my pleasure to introduce Leslie Green, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Leslie Green
Investor Relations Contact Officer

Thank you, Paul. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us on today’s conference call to discuss MaxLinear’s Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results. Today’s call is being hosted by Dr. Kishore Seendripu, CEO; and Steve Litchfield, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Corporate Strategy Officer. After our prepared comments, we will take questions.

Our comments today include forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including statements relating to our guidance for the third quarter of 2026, including revenue, GAAP and non-GAAP gross margin, GAAP and non-GAAP operating expenses, GAAP and non-GAAP interest and other expense, GAAP and non-GAAP income taxes and GAAP and non-GAAP diluted share count.

In addition, we will make forward-looking statements relating to trends, opportunities, execution of our business plan and potential growth and uncertainties in various product and geographic markets, including, without limitation, statements concerning the future financial and operating results, opportunities

CIMB Thai’s Q2FY2026 net profit surged over fivefold to 886.3 million baht, driven by lower credit losses and higher operating income. H1 net profit rose 47% to 1.49 billion baht. Loans grew 4.1%, deposits increased 2.6%, NPL ratio improved to 2.1%, with capital ratios remaining strong.

Key Points

Q2 FY2026 Performance:

• CIMB Thai’s net profit surged fivefold to 886.3 million baht, driven by higher operating income and a 76.3% drop in credit losses
• Net interest income rose 35.2%; operating expenses fell 4.5%

H1 FY2026 Results:

• Six-month net profit grew 47% to 1.49 billion baht
• NIM improved to 2%; credit losses dropped 30.4%

Balance Sheet Strength:

• Gross loans rose 4.1% to 242.2 billion baht; NPL ratio improved to 2.1%
• Capital adequacy ratio stood strong at 19.7%

Strong Second-Quarter Profit Growth

CIMB Thai Bank PCL, the majority-owned subsidiary of CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, reported a more than fivefold surge in net profit for the second quarter of FY2026, reaching 886.3 million Thai baht, up from 174.5 million baht a year earlier. The strong performance was driven by a 76.3% drop in expected credit losses to 104.9 million baht and a 21.1% rise in operating income to 2.63 billion baht. Net interest income climbed 35.2% to 1.37 billion baht, while net fee and service income grew 16.7% to 352.3 million baht. Operating expenses also eased 4.5%, reflecting improved cost discipline alongside stronger revenue generation.

Resilient First-Half Performance

For the six months ended June 30, 2026, CIMB Thai’s net profit rose 47% to 1.49 billion baht, compared with 1.01 billion baht previously. CEO Wut Thanittiraporn attributed this to higher operating income, tighter cost control, and reduced loan-loss provisions. Operating income increased 9.8%, while expenses fell slightly and expected credit losses dropped 30.4% year-on-year. The net interest margin improved marginally to 2%, from 1.9%, as lower funding costs offset weaker asset yields, underscoring the bank’s ability to sustain profitability despite a challenging rate environment.

Solid Balance Sheet and Capital Strength

CIMB Thai’s balance sheet remained healthy as at end-June 2026. Total gross loans rose 4.1% to 242.2 billion baht, while deposits increased 2.6% to 309.2 billion baht. Asset quality improved, with the gross NPL ratio easing to 2.1% from 2.2%, and the loan loss coverage ratio strengthening to 179.3%. Total allowances for expected credit losses stood at 8.9 billion baht, exceeding regulatory requirements by 1.5 billion baht. The bank’s capital position remained robust, with total capital funds of 59.4 billion baht and a BIS ratio of 19.7%, including 15.4% Tier 1 capital—reflecting strong resilience and a solid buffer against potential risks.

Source : CIMB Thai’s 2Q profit jumps over fivefold on operating income, lower credit losses

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It’s “Showtime” again in Chicago.

The Chicago Blackhawks announced Thursday that they have agreed to terms with free agent winger Patrick Kane on a two-year contract worth $16 million, carrying an $8 million average annual salary cap hit and a full no-move clause. The deal reunites Kane with the franchise where he became a superstar, three weeks into his free agency and roughly three years after the team traded him away to kick-start a rebuild.

Coming home to Chicago

Kane, 37, won three Stanley Cups with the Blackhawks, in 2010, 2013 and 2015, after Chicago selected him with the first overall pick in the 2007 NHL Draft. He spent the first 16 seasons of his 19-year NHL career with the franchise, serving as the cornerstone of a dynastic run that saw the Blackhawks reach the playoffs nine straight seasons and advance to the conference finals five times.

Kane remains second all-time in points for the Blackhawks with 1,225, trailing only Hall of Famer Stan Mikita’s 1,467, and sits third in franchise history in both goals, with 446, and games played, with 1,161. His individual accolades with Chicago include the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 2007-08, the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in 2013, and both the Hart Trophy as league MVP and the Ted Lindsay Award as the NHL Players’ Association’s player of the year in 2015-16, a season in which he led the league with 106 points.

What the team is saying

Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson, who originally traded Kane to the New York Rangers in 2023 to help launch Chicago’s rebuild, praised the winger’s return in a team statement. “Day in and day out for 16 seasons, Patrick captivated the city of Chicago with his dazzling skill, creating some of the most memorable moments in Blackhawks history as he helped bring our storied franchise back to the pinnacle of our sport,” Davidson said. “He’s shown on countless occasions that he knows what it takes to win at the highest levels, and we couldn’t be prouder for Patrick to once again call the United Center home and continue to shine in Chicago’s brightest lights.”

Davidson’s tone marks a notable shift from his earlier public stance on a potential Kane reunion. In 2024, Davidson said he did not “foresee us going back on” the decision to move on from Kane. More recently, however, Davidson signaled a change of heart, telling the radio show OverDrive on TSN 1050 Toronto that Chicago’s door remained open. “We’ll await his decision, but he knows our door is always open,” Davidson said. “He’s a Blackhawk at heart for life, even if he’s not wearing our jersey.”

A decision between two hometowns

Kane, who grew up in Buffalo, spent much of free agency weighing a return to Chicago against the possibility of signing with his hometown Buffalo Sabres. In the end, he chose Chicago, a decision Blackhawks star Connor Bedard had publicly campaigned for throughout the process.

Bedard, 21, was drafted first overall by Chicago just months after the team traded Kane away, meaning the two franchise-defining players never shared the ice together in Chicago. With Kane a free agent, Bedard made his case for a reunion directly. “I can’t imagine his first game back at the United Center, just the reaction he’d get and how much juice that would bring not only to our team but our fans as well,” Bedard said. “That would be incredible to get to play with him and learn from him.”

Bedard signed his own five-year, $75 million extension with the Blackhawks last week as a restricted free agent, cementing his long-term future with the franchise just before Kane’s return was finalized.

Filling a gap left by injury

Kane’s arrival carries added significance for Chicago given Bedard’s health status entering next season. Bedard underwent shoulder surgery this offseason and is expected to be sidelined into early November, leaving the Blackhawks without their top-line center for the start of the 2026-27 campaign. The team may look to Kane to help offset some of that lost offensive production early in the season, with the possibility of eventually pairing the two on the same line once Bedard returns to full health.

Kane’s recent form in Detroit

Before returning to Chicago, Kane spent the past three seasons with the Detroit Red Wings on a series of one-year contracts, worth $2.75 million in 2023-24, $4 million in 2024-25 and $3 million in 2025-26. He remained a productive player throughout that stretch, totaling 163 points across 189 games in Detroit, including 57 points, 16 goals and 41 assists, in 67 games last season. Despite Kane’s consistent production, the Red Wings missed the playoffs in each of his three seasons there, extending Detroit’s postseason drought to 10 straight years.

A career still adding to the record books

Kane enters his 20th NHL season ranked fourth among active players with 1,400 career points and sixth with 508 goals. Along the way, he scored his 500th NHL goal in January, broke Mike Modano’s record for career points by a U.S.-born player when he reached 1,375 points later that same month, and surpassed 1,400 points in April. He has also posted 138 points in 143 career Stanley Cup playoff games and was named one of the 100 Greatest Players in NHL history during the league’s centennial celebration in 2017.

Reflecting on his continued ability to perform at a high level, Kane said after last season ended, “I still think I have the ability to elevate my game at the most important times.”

With Kane now under contract through the 2027-28 season, the Blackhawks head into next season hoping his return can help accelerate a rebuild that has been underway since his 2023 departure, while Chicago has not made the playoffs since 2020. For Kane, the reunion offers a chance to return to the postseason for the first time since 2023, this time alongside a new generation of Blackhawks talent led by Bedard, in the arena where he first became a star nearly two decades ago.