Some Blink Security customers reported difficulty accessing their smart home camera systems Monday, according to outage-tracking service Downdetector, though independent status monitors offered mixed signals on whether the disruption represented a confirmed, widespread outage or a more limited connectivity issue.

Downdetector posted on its official account on the social platform X that “user reports indicate problems with Blink Security since 11:34 AM EDT,” tagging the post with the hashtag #BlinkSecurityDown and directing affected users to its outage-tracking page for further updates. The post had drawn more than 1,600 views within roughly 20 minutes of being published.

Blink Security, a wireless smart home camera and video doorbell brand owned by Amazon since the company’s 2017 acquisition, relies heavily on cloud connectivity and its companion smartphone app to allow customers to view live camera feeds, receive motion alerts and control connected devices remotely. Because the system’s core functionality depends on that server-side connection rather than purely local device operation, any disruption to Blink’s backend infrastructure can leave customers effectively locked out of monitoring their own home security cameras.

Independent status-tracking services offered a somewhat inconsistent picture of Blink’s operational status around the time of Monday’s reported issues. According to Downscanner, Blink Security’s status was listed as operational, with the tracker noting that “some users have reported problems, but a major outage is not confirmed.” The service’s most recent status change was recorded weeks earlier, suggesting no confirmed platform-wide disruption had been logged immediately prior to Monday’s spike in Downdetector reports.

User complaints compiled by a separate outage-tracking service, IsDownUs, painted a more frustrated picture of the kinds of connectivity problems Blink customers have periodically experienced. One user wrote, “No server connection. Notification should be sent to customers when there is a large scale outage like this!” Another described a more persistent technical problem affecting multiple devices simultaneously. “I have two blink modules that went down almost the same time. My network is good. Have tried changing networks. It keeps saying it can not connect, password is most likely wrong, but its not wrong,” the user wrote. A separate commenter simply confirmed the scope of a prior disruption, writing, “Yes it’s down all around the country!”

Monday’s reported issues follow a pattern of previous confirmed outages affecting Blink’s smart home ecosystem. According to a report from TechBuzz covering an earlier nationwide disruption, Amazon’s Blink security camera app went down across the country, leaving users locked out of their home security systems and displaying cryptic 503 and 403 server error codes. That earlier outage began around 4:54 p.m. Eastern time, prompting hundreds of frustrated posts across Reddit and Amazon’s own support forums, with affected customers reporting identical access problems from states including California, New Jersey, Oregon, Texas and Washington.

TechBuzz’s coverage of that prior incident highlighted a structural vulnerability inherent to Blink’s product design. Unlike traditional home security systems that include dedicated physical monitors or local storage options, Blink’s entire value proposition centers on smartphone-based access, meaning that when the app or its underlying servers go down, customers lose their primary, and in many cases only, interface for monitoring their home security investment. That earlier outage also affected Blink’s integration with Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant platform, according to the report, meaning affected users could not even fall back on voice commands to check their camera feeds while the core app remained inaccessible.

Blink maintains an official status page hosted through Statuspage.io specifically for tracking service uptime and incidents, though it is worth noting that Blink Wallet, a separate cryptocurrency service formerly known as Bitcoin Beach Wallet, maintains its own similarly named status page, a naming overlap that can occasionally cause confusion for users searching for information about the home security brand’s operational status specifically.

Given the discrepancy between Downdetector’s spike in user reports and the more measured “operational” status shown by other independent monitoring services, Monday’s disruption may reflect a more limited or regionally concentrated connectivity issue rather than a confirmed, full-scale nationwide outage comparable to the earlier 503-error incident. Users experiencing difficulty connecting to their Blink cameras or sync modules are generally advised to attempt standard troubleshooting steps before assuming a broader service-wide outage is underway, including refreshing the app or restarting it completely, verifying a stable internet connection, clearing app data or cache, testing on an alternative device, and checking Blink’s official status page directly for any confirmed, company-acknowledged service disruptions.

Blink’s smart home product lineup has grown to include a range of battery-powered outdoor and indoor cameras, video doorbells and companion Sync Module hardware that connects individual cameras to a customer’s home Wi-Fi network and, in turn, to Blink’s cloud servers. That architecture, while enabling the wireless, long-battery-life design that has made Blink a popular budget-friendly entry point into home security compared with more expensive competing systems, also means the product’s core functionality remains entirely dependent on consistent connectivity between individual devices, a customer’s home network, and Amazon’s broader cloud infrastructure supporting the Blink service.

As of this report, Amazon and Blink had not issued a public statement specifically addressing Monday’s reported connectivity problems beyond what independent outage-tracking services had documented through user-submitted reports. Given the product’s history of periodic, sometimes significant service disruptions, affected customers are likely to continue monitoring both Downdetector and Blink’s official channels for updates as the company works to confirm and, if necessary, resolve whatever underlying issue prompted Monday’s wave of user complaints regarding access to their home security cameras.

India’s smallcap rally is flashing a warning beneath the surface: the index may be powering ahead, but fewer than four in every 10 constituent stocks are keeping pace.

Only 37.2% of stocks in the Nifty Smallcap 250 have outperformed the benchmark in 2026, the lowest proportion in eight years, even as the index delivered the strongest return among large, mid and smallcap benchmarks, according to a YES Securities report.

The divergence suggests that headline returns are being driven by a shrinking pool of winners rather than broad participation. While 24% of smallcap stocks have gained more than 25% this year, most constituents have failed to beat the index, raising the execution risk for investors chasing the segment’s recent performance.

The picture is almost the reverse in largecaps. About 65% of Nifty 100 constituents are outperforming their benchmark, the highest level in eight years and sharply above 46.5% in 2025. That breadth improvement has emerged despite the Nifty 100 underperforming the broader market, indicating that largecap weakness is concentrated in a relatively small group of stocks.
Across the NSE 500, market participation has improved materially. About 54.9% of constituents are beating the Nifty 500, up from 36.4% last year and the second-highest reading in eight years. But the rewards from picking outperformers are diminishing: median alpha generated by winning NSE 500 stocks has slipped to 18.3% from 19.1% in 2025 and remains well below the 37.5% peak recorded in 2021.

Also Read | Small, microcaps offer better alpha opportunities; midcaps look expensive: Equitree CIO Pawan Bharaddia
The market is, therefore, becoming broader but less rewarding at the individual-stock level, turning the next phase of the rally into a more demanding stock-picker’s market.“Investors almost always chase recent returns,” said Shridatta Bhandwaldar, chief investment officer-equities at Canara Robeco AMC. “Small and mid-caps have sizably outperformed large caps over the last 3 years and thus those categories have been receiving larger flows.”

That pattern remains visible in mutual fund allocations. Smallcap funds received net inflows of ₹7,770 crore in July, the highest among equity-oriented categories, while midcap funds attracted ₹6,190 crore. In contrast, largecap funds recorded net outflows of ₹1,320 crore.

Bhandwaldar said investors should not overlook the margin of safety available in largecaps, though their performance would require an improvement in earnings momentum.

“The challenge is that a few large cap sectors like large banks, IT, FMCG, O&G have lacked earnings acceleration over the last few quarters,” he said. “That needs to change.”

Also Read |India Inc’s blockbuster Q1 earnings may not last as 3 key tailwinds fade in H2

Earnings provide support

The smallcap rally is not entirely disconnected from fundamentals. Smallcap companies covered by Motilal Oswal delivered 31% year-on-year earnings growth in the June quarter, comfortably ahead of its 22% estimate. About 75% of the smallcap coverage universe met or exceeded expectations.

Financials and oil and gas led the earnings performance, while NBFC lenders, private banks, NBFC non-lenders and chemicals also contributed. Together, these sectors accounted for about 69% of the incremental year-on-year increase in smallcap earnings.

The forward earnings differential also remains in favour of smaller companies. FY27 profit growth is estimated at about 16% for the Nifty 100, 20% for midcaps and 34% for smallcaps, according to Venugopal Manghat, chief investment officer-equity at HSBC Mutual Fund.

“This provides room for mid and smallcaps to catch up with earnings,” Manghat said. “However, given that smallcaps continue to trade at a premium, selectivity remains critical, with a focus on balance sheet strength, cash flow visibility and sustainable returns.”

Manghat said the valuation gap alone does not justify a decisive move toward largecaps, particularly as key largecap sectors such as information technology and consumer staples may continue to face weak earnings growth. Manufacturing-led opportunities, meanwhile, are more heavily represented among mid and smallcap companies.

“Our preference remains a diversified approach across market caps, driven by stock-level opportunities rather than a binary large-cap versus mid-/small-cap call,” he said.

The valuation fault line

Elevated valuations complicate the investment case despite stronger earnings. Mid and smallcap stocks were the primary drivers of market performance in the first half of 2026, supported by retail and domestic institutional flows, resilient economic growth and improving earnings expectations. Manufacturing, capital expenditure, defence, infrastructure and consumption-linked companies were among the key beneficiaries.

But the sharp appreciation has reduced the margin for error, particularly where valuations already assume sustained high growth.

Pawan Bharaddia, co-founder and CIO at Equitree Capital Advisors, said dispersion within market cap segments is now greater than the differences between them, making broad allocation calls less useful.

“The broad midcap segment is where we would currently exercise the most valuation discipline,” he said. “Median valuations remain high, median PEG ratios in our work remain above 2, and nearly seven out of ten companies in our analysed midcap universe were trading above 30x trailing earnings.”

Bharaddia continues to see mispricing opportunities among select small and microcap companies, particularly in the ₹1,000 crore to ₹5,000 crore market-cap bracket. But that does not mean the overall segment is inexpensive.

“We are not looking for inexpensive companies because they are small,” he said. “We are looking for businesses capable of compounding earnings at 20% plus, with strong balance sheets, capable management, improving competitive positions and sensible valuations.”

Midcap breadth has remained relatively stable, with 42.9% of Nifty Midcap 150 stocks outperforming the benchmark, broadly in line with the five-year average. However, median alpha in the segment has dropped sharply to 15.5% from 21.8% in 2025.

The proportion of stocks delivering gains above 25% has also declined to 15% among largecaps and 16% among midcaps, from 24% in both categories last year. Returns are increasingly clustering around moderate gains and declines, further shrinking the universe of outsized winners.

Hemant Kanawala, senior executive vice president and head of equity at Kotak Life Insurance, said largecaps offer valuation comfort, particularly in banks and IT, while mid and smallcaps remain a source of alpha because of their exposure to faster-growing sectors.

“We favour financials, hold quality compounders across the cap curve, and prefer mid and small cap selectively for an alpha kicker,” Kanawala said. “A durable leadership shift ultimately needs earnings to sustain it.”

The smallcap rally may not be a trap in its entirety. Earnings growth remains strong and a meaningful subset of companies continues to deliver outsized gains. But with participation at an eight-year low, premium valuations and widening dispersion, buying the benchmark’s recent success indiscriminately carries growing risk.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)

Club wants to ‘enhance the stadium’s potential as a multi-use venue’

More concerts and live events could become a permanent fixture at Everton’s waterfront stadium after the club made a bid to Liverpool Council. The Toffees’ second season got underway at Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday after the historic move from Goodison Park in 2025.

Alongside its inaugural set of Premier League fixtures, the Bramley-Moore Dock ground has already hosted two rugby events and an England Women’s international match. There are also plans in place for festive occasions such as Oktoberfest and Christmas markets later this year.

Now the club have asked the city council for permission to expand the terms it currently has to hold non-sporting events on Regent Road. This could double to eight from the four originally granted back in 2021.

The Blues have asked Liverpool Council to vary the conditions of its planning permission granted five years ago during the initial construction of the stadium. This allowed the club to stage four non-sporting events, such as concerts, to take place at full capacity within the stadium in any calendar year.

Should this change be agreed, Hill Dickinson Stadium would be given the go-ahead to host up to eight concerts. Of those no more than two may continue up until 11.30pm with all music concerts finishing by 11pm.

In a planning statement submitted to the city council, CBRE Limited – on behalf of Everton – explained why they were seeking to make the change. It said: “While maintaining its principle role as a football stadium, the proposed amendment seeks to enhance the stadium’s potential as a multi-use venue.

“This will support wider regional aims to increase the live music offer in the city region, and in turn boost the tourism and visitor economy.” According to the document, the existing conditions are “restricting” Hill Dickinson Stadium “despite the interest from events promoters”.

The planning agents added: “It provides the opportunity for Liverpool to capitalise on its status as a designated UNESCO City of Music, by allowing a greater number of live music events to be held in the city, which in turn will increase tourism in Liverpool.” The application comes as Everton have outlined how the club will continue to develop the site around Hill Dickinson Stadium.

This includes bringing the grade II listed hydraulic tower back into use. Andrew Middleton, the club’s president of business operations, told the BBC’s Giulia Bould how work was underway to transform it into a sports bar for matchdays and beyond.

The Western Terrace steps will also be made accessible to fans on non-matchdays. Mr Middleton said the move to hold more concerts and non-football events would not hold the club back in terms of making further improvements.

While work is in progress to secure the first artists to play at Hill Dickinson, no dates or acts have been confirmed for the stadium at this stage. Liverpool Council is yet to announce if and when the planning application will go before committee members for a decision.

Keeping a team happy when you’re running a small or medium sized business isn’t always easy. It’s hard to match the salaries that larger companies can offer and in a smaller organisation employees sometimes face more intense pressures.

To keep people on side it’s essential to find other differentiators – which often comes down to making sure that employees are treated well and offering practical perks that show they’re appreciated.

Improving employees’ experience of business travel may not always have been a director’s first thought when it comes to staff wellbeing, but it turns out that it matters a lot. Research from the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) found that 83% of business travellers in Europe say their business travel experience affects their job satisfaction. This figure rises to 88% among millennials – suggesting that for younger generations of employees, a smoother experience has become an expectation.

Travel is an inevitable and important part of growing an SME, whether it’s travelling to meet vendors and suppliers in person, attending industry events or bringing a remote-working team together. Unlike larger organisations, however, many SMEs do not have dedicated travel managers or large finance teams to handle the admin of booking transport, filing receipts, reconciling payments and monitoring policy compliance.

See it from the traveller’s point of view

The reality is that employees in smaller organisations are often responsible for their own trip logistics, including the purchase of tickets and booking of hotels and meals. When it comes to taxis they will almost always be expected to pay for this out of their own pocket and recover the cost from their employer. It’s an extra layer of admin that most people could do without – and frequently means delays before reimbursement.

Employees want flexibility and convenience. If they do have to book transport themselves they want it to be simple – and ideally charged directly to their employer. A large credit card bill that has been spent on your employer’s behalf is not motivational – nor is the knowledge that time has been spent managing travel admin instead of getting on with the job.

Another aspect of travel that can be discouraging for employees is finding something to eat. When you’re travelling, you’re tired enough already without having to find food too. An employee may be working irregular hours, arriving at accommodation late at night or travelling between different meetings during the day. If as an employer you’re able to take away this stress, it will make a difference to how they feel during a trip.

Better travel management – better for the business

While keeping team members happy is a top priority, as a business owner, it’s also important that you maintain visibility and control. This includes knowing how much employees are spending when travelling and whether staff are following travel policy. If you’ve agreed prices with one supplier you want to avoid your team going rogue and booking rides with someone else. Safety is also a concern. While you don’t want to track your employees’ every move, the company has a duty of care towards them so it helps if you are able to know where they are.

Another consideration is whether you’re capturing and using data from travel. Clear and consistent data can be beneficial to businesses for all sorts of reasons. Gathering data on spend, for example,can help you to manage costs and improve budget planning.

Making it easier to travel and eat

So what does a good business travel experience look like?

Clear policies on travel, meals and expenses help, so employees know where they stand when booking a ride or ordering a meal while away. If you can remove the need for staff to pay up front and automate expense capture and reconciliation, this takes away those admin-heavy tasks. And when people are travelling to unfamiliar locations, being able to track their location gives you extra reassurance that they are safe and well.

Digital tools are now making it far easier for companies to provide a better travel experience and enabling them to spend more time running their business, rather than focusing on paperwork. These tools are quick to set up, are either free or low-cost, and can easily integrate with existing systems, without a complicated integration process or the need for upfront investment.

With a centralised platform, for instance, you can set controls on journeys, capture data about trips and spend, and automate the expense process. Meanwhile apps which people are familiar with in their personal lives can also be used to conveniently book travel during a work trip.

Business travel shouldn’t be a burden. Managed well, it can help SMEs grow and strengthen client relationships. It can also leave employees feeling productive, energised and more satisfied in their roles.

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Bob Wright knows his mission: Get Wendy’s WEN 2.12%increase; up pointing triangle back on its feet.

Since taking the helm as Wendy’s chief executive in May, Wright has been unsparing in his assessment of the burger chain’s challenges. He has told franchisees and investors that the company has shortchanged ingredient quality for cost savings, that service has become uneven and that Wendy’s depends too much on deals.

Copyright ©2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

Largecap stocks are usually seen as safer long-term bets in a volatile market. But even in the Nifty, safety has not always meant returns. According to ACE Equity data, six Nifty stocks have delivered negative returns over the last five years. The list includes Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Hindustan Unilever, HDFC Life Insurance, Asian Paints and HDFC Bank.

All of these stocks are market leaders in their sectors. Yet, each has struggled with a different mix of growth, valuation, margin and sector-specific problems.

TCS has been the worst performer in the list, falling 37% over five years. Infosys is close behind with a 34% decline. Both stocks were hit by old IT services growth model coming under pressure. Global clients have delayed discretionary technology spending, while artificial intelligence has raised questions over pricing, headcount-based billing and long-term demand for traditional outsourcing services.

Indian IT companies are being forced to rethink business models as clients demand more productivity and lower prices. The Nifty IT index has also lost about a fifth this year, with its 10 constituents losing $73 billion in market value.

Infosys has also faced company-specific pressure from weak guidance. The company’s FY27 constant currency revenue growth guidance of 1.5-3.5% had pointed to continued demand uncertainty, while another guidance cut after Q1 kept brokerages cautious. Analysts also flagged weak demand, AI-led pricing pressure and client-specific issues as near-term headwinds.

chart:
Hindustan Unilever, down 23% in five years, shows how even a consumer staple stock can disappoint. The company has been dealing with weak rural demand, inflation pressure and rising competition. HUL’s shares had fallen to a 52-week low after the June quarter even though revenue growth touched a 13-quarter high, as investors worried about margin pressure from sustained cost inflation.The broader FMCG story has also changed. Inflation has hurt mass-market demand, while competition from regional players and large new entrants has kept pricing power under check. For a company that once commanded a premium for steady growth, slower volume recovery and margin pressure have made valuations harder to defend.

HDFC Life Insurance has fallen 18% over five years. The issue here has been slower growth and pressure on profitability metrics. The company’s June quarter showed value of new business rising 9% year-on-year (YoY) and annual premium equivalent also growing 9%, but individual APE remained muted, with underperformance in the bank channel. VNB margin declined 10 basis points YoY to 25%.

Also Read: In favour! FIIs buy 7 multibaggers that soared up to 730% after 2 quarters of selling

Life insurers have also had to deal with regulatory changes, product mix shifts and pressure on savings products. For HDFC Life, investors have waited for stronger growth to justify its earlier premium valuation.

Asian Paints, down 13%, is another case where a high-quality franchise met a tougher market. Demand in decorative paints weakened, raw material costs rose, and competition intensified after the entry of Birla Opus.

Asian Paints had reported a sharp fall in quarterly profit in FY25 as muted demand and new competition hurt volumes. Its management had said it did not anticipate the intensity of competition because demand itself was weak and everyone was fighting for the same share.

The paint sector has also seen pressure from crude-linked raw material costs and rupee depreciation. Paint companies raised prices in 2026, but margins remained under pressure because raw material inflation stayed elevated and hikes were gradual.

HDFC Bank has been the least negative among the six, down 6.47% in five years, but its underperformance has hurt because it was once treated as one of India’s most reliable compounders. The main issue has been the merger with HDFC Ltd. The merger increased the bank’s balance sheet sharply but brought a smaller deposit base, putting pressure on margins and returns.

The absorption of HDFC added Rs 7.23 lakh crore of assets but a relatively small deposit base, squeezing margins and dragging on growth. The stock also saw pressure after leadership-related concerns and boardroom strains earlier this year.

Analysts say the merger also pushed the bank’s credit-deposit ratio to elevated levels, forcing it to rely on costlier deposits and borrowings. Analysts said this pulled net interest margins down from pre-merger levels.

The common thread across these six stocks is that investors had paid heavy price for certainty. Many of these companies traded at rich valuations for years because they were seen as stable, predictable and difficult to disrupt. When growth slowed, competition increased or margins came under pressure, the stocks had little room for error.

Largecaps still seen as safe bets

Still, there is a general consensus that largecaps remain the safer part of the market for many long-term investors. They have stronger balance sheets, deeper management teams, better access to capital and higher liquidity than smaller companies.

India’s equity market now appears to be moving from a valuation-driven phase to an earnings-led one. The recent correction has improved risk-reward for long-term investors in some parts of the market.

Anil Rego, MD and Chief Investment Officer at Right Horizons PMS, said the worst of the valuation-led correction may be behind the market, while a broader earnings recovery could support the next leg of growth.

He remains constructive on financials, manufacturing and industrials, autos, power and renewable energy, and consumer discretionary. Rego said investors should take a bottom-up approach and look for businesses where earnings growth is not yet fully reflected in valuations.

Data: Ritesh Presswala

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)

Max Hunger
Head of Investor Relations

Hello, everyone, and welcome. Good morning to everyone joining from the U.S. and North America, and good afternoon to everyone here in Europe. I am Max. I’m Head of Investor Relations here at innoscripta and I’m very pleased to have you all with us on this earnings call for the first half year of 2026 today. We’ve scheduled around 30 minutes for this call. [Operator Instructions]. Also, please be aware that this meeting is being recorded. Okay. With that, we are ready to get started, and I will hand over the word to our CEO, Michael Hohenester.

Michael Hohenester
Founder, CO-CEO & Chairman of the Management Board

Thank you very Max — very much, Max. Can we jump into the first slide, please? Yes. So basically, you saw the highlights already from the — from today’s press release. So basically, we have continued business operations in the second quarter and the first half year. So we see constant customer growth, constant low churn rate and let’s say, stable financial data.

Next slide, please. Some things we would like to address to give you some color about what we have reached already. So if you look at the German R&D workforce, as you know, probably R&D research and development is a pretty recurring endeavor. So that means once you do research and development, once you set up a research and development department, usually, you continue here over several years. And yes, so this is actually a pretty

Thailand is preparing a sweeping overhaul of its securities and digital‑asset laws in a bid to accelerate financial‑crime investigations and rebuild investor confidence. The Cabinet approved amendments to four key market‑regulation laws on Aug 25, signalling a shift toward more assertive enforcement .

A central change would allow the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to work directly with police on probes into insider trading, stock manipulation, and corporate fraud — cases that currently take more than two years due to limited investigative capacity . SEC secretary‑general Pornanong Budsaratragoon said closer cooperation should significantly shorten investigations and respond to investor demands for tougher action against wrongdoing .

The reform push follows high‑profile scandals at Stark Corporation, which defaulted on nearly 40 billion baht after revealing accounting irregularities , and Energy Absolute, whose founder and director faced SEC allegations of fraud and corruption that triggered a sharp market reaction and bond‑payment delays . These cases have intensified calls for stronger oversight.

Beyond enforcement, the amendments aim to reinforce supervision of auditors and financial advisers, described as critical gatekeepers in preventing corporate misconduct . The proposals will now move to Parliament, with implementation expected in 2027, according to Finance Minister Ekniti Nitithanprapas