Hong Kong’s shrinking school-age population continues to put the education system to the test, with more subsidised institutions facing the axe or being forced to go private or merge with others. The closure option, once regarded as a last resort, is fast becoming an inevitable fate rather than an exception. A smooth transition, or a “soft landing”, looks increasingly difficult as more schools fin...
Hong Kong’s shrinking school-age population continues to put the education system to the test, with more subsidised institutions facing the axe or being forced to go private or merge with others. The closure option, once regarded as a last resort, is fast becoming an inevitable fate rather than an exception. A smooth transition, or a “soft landing”, looks increasingly difficult as more schools find themselves on the brink amid intensifying consolidation spurred by the city’s declining birth rate The situation is worrying, with a record 15 primary schools barred from running a Primary One class next academic year after they failed to enrol at least 16 pupils as required for public subsidy. The surge from just two schools with insufficient enrolment this year is hardly a cyclical fluctuation, as the number joining the allocation system for the 2026-27 school year has dropped by 4,000. According to the Education Bureau, the number of six-year-olds is forecast to further decline from this year’s figure of 47,000 to 38,300 in 2035. Behind the figures are individual school communities looking at closures or mergers with complex emotions. While the outcome does not come as a surprise to those that have been struggling to survive in recent years, there is more than sorrow and nostalgia involved. For teachers, parents and pupils, the problem extends beyond acquiring a new school uniform or teaching at a different campus next year. Hard choices have to be made. Advertisement The government has rightly sought to soften the impact of under-enrolment with financial support and grace periods for consolidation. Additionally, merged schools will be allowed a one-time exemption from submitting survival plans if they fail to admit enough pupils to operate one Primary One class in the first three years of the merger. The plea by the authorities for schools to plan ahead should be taken seriously. For schools that have had trouble securing the minimum intake in recent years, the issue ...
Western Union (WU 1.74%) has an iconic, trusted name and a business dating back to the mid-1800s. That didn't protect the company from competitors who used the internet to offer lower costs and easier-to-access money transfer services. Since 2020, Western Union's stock has lost roughly two-thirds of its value. But a turning point for the business could be on the horizon. Western Union has struggle...
Western Union (WU 1.74%) has an iconic, trusted name and a business dating back to the mid-1800s. That didn't protect the company from competitors who used the internet to offer lower costs and easier-to-access money transfer services. Since 2020, Western Union's stock has lost roughly two-thirds of its value. But a turning point for the business could be on the horizon. Western Union has struggled Wall Street didn't miss any memos; Western Union's revenues have been heading lower for years. There was a slight uptick during the coronavirus pandemic, but demand for its services has clearly been in decline. Earnings, meanwhile, have been volatile. One of the biggest problems is that competitors have used the internet to offer competing services. Upstarts often attempt to undercut existing companies on price, siphoning off customers. That has had a predictable impact on Western Union's business. And the increased competition has forced Western Union to invest in improving its own offering to compete with the upstarts. Western Union is a different company today A lot of heavy lifting has taken place at the financial services provider. Most notably, Western Union has leaned heavily into modernizing its technology, shifting toward the web while still maintaining its highly visible physical presence. That means it still has wide brand recognition, but now it also has a better ability to take on the start-ups that were pulling its customers away. Expand NYSE : WU Western Union Today's Change ( -1.74 %) $ -0.16 Current Price $ 9.02 Key Data Points Market Cap $2.8B Day's Range $ 8.97 - $ 9.21 52wk Range $ 7.85 - $ 10.70 Volume 23M Avg Vol 8.5M Gross Margin 32.79 % Dividend Yield 10.42 % However, the bigger story for investors is the company's adjusted operating margin. In the fourth quarter of 2024, Western Union's margin was 17%. It jumped to 19% in the first half of 2025 and then rose to 20% in the second half. Year over year, the company's adjusted operating margin increas...
Key Points Western Union helps people transfer money worldwide. Competition has increased, but Western Union has been fighting back. 10 stocks we like better than Western Union › Western Union (NYSE: WU) has an iconic, trusted name and a business dating back to the mid-1800s. That didn't protect the company from competitors who used the internet to offer lower costs and easier-to-access money tran...
Key Points Western Union helps people transfer money worldwide. Competition has increased, but Western Union has been fighting back. 10 stocks we like better than Western Union › Western Union (NYSE: WU) has an iconic, trusted name and a business dating back to the mid-1800s. That didn't protect the company from competitors who used the internet to offer lower costs and easier-to-access money transfer services. Since 2020, Western Union's stock has lost roughly two-thirds of its value. But a turning point for the business could be on the horizon. Western Union has struggled Wall Street didn't miss any memos; Western Union's revenues have been heading lower for years. There was a slight uptick during the coronavirus pandemic, but demand for its services has clearly been in decline. Earnings, meanwhile, have been volatile. Will AI create the world's first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an "Indispensable Monopoly" providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue » One of the biggest problems is that competitors have used the internet to offer competing services. Upstarts often attempt to undercut existing companies on price, siphoning off customers. That has had a predictable impact on Western Union's business. And the increased competition has forced Western Union to invest in improving its own offering to compete with the upstarts. Western Union is a different company today A lot of heavy lifting has taken place at the financial services provider. Most notably, Western Union has leaned heavily into modernizing its technology, shifting toward the web while still maintaining its highly visible physical presence. That means it still has wide brand recognition, but now it also has a better ability to take on the start-ups that were pulling its customers away. However, the bigger story for investors is the company's adjusted operating margin. In the fourth quarter of 2024, Western Union's margin ...
Nvidia (NVDA 3.17%) is at a unique point in history. With the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) data centers, Nvidia has transformed into a new company since 2023, and each year, the same trend happens with the stock. At the start of the year, Nvidia tells investors about all the growth it's going to generate and how high AI demand is. Every year, the market doubts Nvidia, then the growth comes...
Nvidia (NVDA 3.17%) is at a unique point in history. With the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) data centers, Nvidia has transformed into a new company since 2023, and each year, the same trend happens with the stock. At the start of the year, Nvidia tells investors about all the growth it's going to generate and how high AI demand is. Every year, the market doubts Nvidia, then the growth comes, and in the second half of the year, the stock soars. I see that same trend starting this year, and fortunately for investors, the market hasn't caught on quite yet. This disconnect creates a huge opportunity to buy the stock now and profit from history. Investors shouldn't delay, as the stock could easily start its rally at any time. Nvidia's growth usually starts around its Q1 earnings release Starting in 2023, you have to remember that the consensus was that the economy was heading into a recession in late 2022 and early 2023. As a result, optimism was not high. Furthermore, the market was coming off a cryptocurrency crash, which created an inventory excess for Nvidia, causing its earnings to plummet. As a result, Nvidia entered 2023 on a relatively grim outlook, but all of that changed in Q1 when it told investors about huge AI demand. Unfortunately, I don't have the price of forward earnings data dating back to 2023, but I do have it for 2024. That year, the same thing happened. Investors assumed Nvidia's growth wouldn't live up to the hype, so the stock traded at low expectations for a few months. Then, it rocketed higher throughout the rest of the year. 2025 was a bit unique because of the tariff sell-off in April, but as soon as the market figured out that Nvidia would be fine, it rallied around the stock. At the start of 2026, I see a similar setup for Nvidia, so far. The stock is relatively flat and trades for 22 times forward earnings, about the same price tag it trades around at this point of the year. There are also other concerns surrounding Nvidia, like the ...
Elon Musk said his Terafab project — a grand plan to eventually manufacture his own chips for robotics, artificial intelligence and space data centers — will be built in Austin and jointly run by Tesla and SpaceX. Musk, the chief executive officer of both companies, said he will start off with an “advanced technology fab” in Austin that will have all of the equipment necessary to make chips of any...
Elon Musk said his Terafab project — a grand plan to eventually manufacture his own chips for robotics, artificial intelligence and space data centers — will be built in Austin and jointly run by Tesla and SpaceX. Musk, the chief executive officer of both companies, said he will start off with an “advanced technology fab” in Austin that will have all of the equipment necessary to make chips of any kind, and test them. Musk, who has no background in semiconductor production and a history of over-promising on goals and timelines, had said before that the company will start with a smaller scale fab before moving to a bigger one. Musk has said the semiconductor industry is moving too slow to keep up with the supply of chips he expects to need, even as the industry increases output. “That rate is much less than we’d like,” Musk said. “We either build the Terafab or we don’t have the chips, and we need the chips, so we build the Terafab.” Musk’s project would call for one day supporting a terawatt of computing power per year, the amount he expects the companies to eventually use as he ramps up his investments in AI and robotics. Musk detailed some specific plans, including producing chips that can support 100 to 200 gigawatts a year of computing power on Earth, and chips that can support a terawatt in space, but gave no timelines for the facility or its output. Musk has said previously that the facility would produce 2 nanometer chips. The project appears to be planned for an area near Tesla’s existing Austin headquarters and gigafactory, based on a photo shown during the presentation. Read More: Why the AI Boom Will Make Phones, Cars, Devices More Expensive Many executives have expressed anxiety about a shortage of chips — particularly memory chips — during the race to build computing power for AI. But it’s rare to try building them. Bringing semiconductor facilities online typically takes tens of billions dollars and requires the purchase of complex machines from multip...
Latin American governments are launching a sweeping realignment of energy and fiscal policies, warning that the surge in oil prices from the Iran war threatens regional stability. Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader announced in a webcast Sunday a “responsible” adjustment to domestic fuel prices to protect public finances. He called on businesses to adopt remote work and urged a new level o...
Latin American governments are launching a sweeping realignment of energy and fiscal policies, warning that the surge in oil prices from the Iran war threatens regional stability. Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader announced in a webcast Sunday a “responsible” adjustment to domestic fuel prices to protect public finances. He called on businesses to adopt remote work and urged a new level of citizen consciousness to optimize fuel consumption. Warning that the surge creates an escalating fiscal burden that could “jeopardize the sustainability” of the state, Abinader’s administration is preparing to subsidize fertilizers to the tune of 1 billion pesos ($17 million) and redirect 10 billion pesos to bolster social programs. Abinader’s remarks mirror a broader regional pivot as leaders across the political spectrum grapple with the fallout of global energy volatility. “This is not due to domestic economic weakness, but rather because we are facing an external shock of great magnitude,” he said. While the government will bear the brunt of the effort, citizens must prepare for “inevitable sacrifices,” including upward pressure on electricity and food costs, Abinader said. In Chile, President José Antonio Kast said in an interview with La Tercera that “things cannot remain as they are if the price of oil doubles.” Shunning what he termed “populist exits,” Kast signaled he will use executive authority to adjust the MEPCO fuel-price stabilization mechanism. He framed the measures as part of a “culture of responsibility” required to confront an existing “fiscal crisis” now exacerbated by global conflict. Colombian President Gustavo Petro took the lead in the region on Saturday, saying on X that subsidized gasoline prices “can no longer be sustained” and will start tracking international levels. “Gasoline subsidies are no longer possible,” Petro said. “As international prices go up, so will prices in Colombia.” In a strategic pivot, Petro said state oil company Ecopetrol...
Instead of buying someone else's ETF, build an index around your own thesis with Public's AI tools. Get started and see if you qualify for the 1% match. Opendoor Technologies fell 4.14% to $5.33 on Wednesday, as investors weighed rising mortgage rates against a potentially favorable regulatory backdrop. Higher borrowing costs are reducing incentives for homeowners to refinance or move, which in tu...
Instead of buying someone else's ETF, build an index around your own thesis with Public's AI tools. Get started and see if you qualify for the 1% match. Opendoor Technologies fell 4.14% to $5.33 on Wednesday, as investors weighed rising mortgage rates against a potentially favorable regulatory backdrop. Higher borrowing costs are reducing incentives for homeowners to refinance or move, which in turn affects Opendoor's housing turnover and transaction volumes. In pre-market trading on Friday, shares of Rocket Companies were down 0.68% at $14.55, DocuSign fell 0.23% to $47.64 (-0.23%), Zions Bancorp dropped 0.52% to $54, while D.R. Horton was slightly up at $137.70, and Zillow Group dropped 1.51% to $45.57. See Also: Arrived Home's Private Credit Fund’s has historically paid an annualized dividend yield of 8.1%* , which provides access to a pool of short-term loans backed by residential real estate with just a $100 minimum. The order encourages digital modernization of home-buying, including electronic signatures, e-notes, and AI-based appraisals. The administration said its $200 billion in mortgage-backed securities purchases has lowered costs for homebuyers by $5,000. The Federal Reserve kept interest rates at 3.5%–3.75% , noting that “the implications of developments in the Middle East for the U.S. economy are uncertain.” Mortgage applications fell nearly 11% from the prior week. New single-family home sales dropped nearly 18% in January from the previous month and were down 11.3% from a year earlier, according to the Census Bureau. The increase follows the outbreak of the Iran conflict, which has tightened global energy supplies and lifted oil prices, fueling inflation expectations. The 10-year Treasury yield, which influences mortgage rates, rose to 4.26% from 3.96% before the conflict. Mortgage rates in the U.S. jumped to a three-month high this week, adding strain to the housing market as the spring buying season begins. The 30-year fixed mortgage rate rose to ...
Ministers have confirmed the locations for seven new towns, which include under-developed inner-city land, a historic village and an existing new town. The programme is being billed by the housing and communities department as the most ambitious housebuilding project in England for half a century, with the planned construction of between 15,000 and 40,000 homes in each new town. The new towns are ...
Ministers have confirmed the locations for seven new towns, which include under-developed inner-city land, a historic village and an existing new town. The programme is being billed by the housing and communities department as the most ambitious housebuilding project in England for half a century, with the planned construction of between 15,000 and 40,000 homes in each new town. The new towns are intended to be designed in a coordinated way, with schools, access to healthcare, public transport links and walking and cycling paths to be created at the same time as the homes. Only one of the locations will be created around a small existing community, as was the case with the various generations of new towns built after the second world war. Up to 40,000 homes are planned around the Bedfordshire village of Tempsford, which is near the A1, with the new building on a former RAF base. It will also have a major station interchange, linking the adjoining east coast mainline with a new east-west link between Cambridge and Oxford. Five of the projects are within or on the edges of major cities, including two in London. Up to 21,000 homes are planned in the Crews Hill and Chase Park new town in Enfield on the northern edge of the capital, and 15,000 homes in Thamesmead, south-east London, helped by extending the Docklands Light Railway. Two of the urban projects will be relatively central: Victoria North in Manchester, with about 15,000 homes; and Leeds South Bank, with a planned 20,000 homes. The cumbersomely named Brabazon and the West Innovation Arc, with 40,000 homes, is in the north of Bristol. The final project would include 40,000 new homes in Milton Keynes, itself created from Buckinghamshire farmland and villages as one of the second generation of postwar new towns, and which is now a city. The seven chosen locations were among a shortlist of 12 unveiled in September. The five other places – Adlington in Cheshire; Heyford Park in Oxfordshire; Marlcombe in East Devon; ...
Florida Cities Enforce Curfews And Mass Arrests After Spring Break Chaos Do certain groups of people deliberately seek out chaos? Do they revel in it so much that they choose to create it from thin air wherever they go? Or, are they completely unaware of the destruction that follows them around? One thing is certain - they obviously don't care about how it affects the people around them. Spring Br...
Florida Cities Enforce Curfews And Mass Arrests After Spring Break Chaos Do certain groups of people deliberately seek out chaos? Do they revel in it so much that they choose to create it from thin air wherever they go? Or, are they completely unaware of the destruction that follows them around? One thing is certain - they obviously don't care about how it affects the people around them. Spring Break in Florida has always been a wild affair attracting masses of young vacationers from across the US to white sandy beaches, condos and the night life. Decades ago, the locals were complaining just as they are now, but in recent years the demographics have changed dramatically and with this change comes the inevitable increase in random criminal violence. It's not just loud parties and DUIs anymore. BREAKING - Shocking video of what spring break in Daytona Beach, Florida, looks like in 2026 compared to the early 2000s is going viral, showing what were once nice, peaceful beach parties being turned into gangland for black teens and guns. pic.twitter.com/TYhdTDx4Xw — Right Angle News Network (@Rightanglenews) March 19, 2026 Some residents are now referring to these incidents as "Ghetto Spring Break". With the demographic being pushed out of traditional getaways like Miami Beach due to higher fees and restrictions, they have surged into alternatives like Fort Lauderdale and Daytona Beach. This has led to skyrocketing crime and essentially unusable tourist spots. #News | Four shootings and massive unruly crowds turned Daytona Beach’s spring-break weekend into a public safety nightmare, as thousands fled the sand while police from multiple agencies rushed in to restore order. pic.twitter.com/ffaeLjxswR — ONLY in DADE (@ONLYinDADE) March 16, 2026 A large percentage of the crime is committed by minors and college age vacationers. Underage teens roam in massive groups unaccompanied by parents is a common scene. Authorities made more than 130 arrests last weekend, including 84 in ...
Investors may catch their breath next week as earnings season winds down and only a few meaningful economic reports are released. The Iran war will remain front and center. Stock selling accelerated Friday into the close after Reuters reported that Iraq had declared force majeure on all oil fields operated by foreign companies. Oil prices spiked on the news, with Brent crude topping $112 a barrel ...
Investors may catch their breath next week as earnings season winds down and only a few meaningful economic reports are released. The Iran war will remain front and center. Stock selling accelerated Friday into the close after Reuters reported that Iraq had declared force majeure on all oil fields operated by foreign companies. Oil prices spiked on the news, with Brent crude topping $112 a barrel and WTI oil trading over $98 a barrel. As we noted recently, oil is the lifeblood of the global economy. It's a large, unavoidable input cost for Main Street and Wall Street, so when its price rises, the price of most things goes up. As a result, active investors should regularly monitor oil prices every minute the market is open; they dictate how Wall Street views market value because commodity prices move inversely to corporate earnings potential. 1. How is the jobs market? Investors are still trying to get a handle on that question, and will look to the weekly initial claims report on Thursday and the productivity and costs report on Tuesday. These aren't the most important gauges of employment — the monthly nonfarm payroll report is king — but given how little data is coming out amid rising fears of stagnation, market watchers will pay more attention than usual. Expect more talk of stagnation — a prolonged period of slow or no economic growth, characterized by high unemployment and stagnant wages — given higher oil prices, rising concerns about the Middle East conflict, and corporate adoption of AI. Those fears are starting to make their way into the market. Look no further than the change in fed funds futures. One month ago, the odds of an April rate cut were 17%, while there was a 94% chance of at least one cut by the end of this year, and a 75% chance of more than one cut, according to the CME's FedWatch tool , which calculates probabilities using 30-day fed funds futures contracts. Odds of an April cut are now at 10%, and there is a 73% chance of no cuts this year. ...
Gold wavered after the biggest weekly decline in more than 40 years, as traders digested escalating threats by the US and Iran in a war that has entered a fourth week. Bullion traded either side of $4,500 an ounce early on Monday, having lost nearly 11% last week. Surging oil prices have raised inflationary risks and reduced the likelihood of near-term interest-rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve ...
Gold wavered after the biggest weekly decline in more than 40 years, as traders digested escalating threats by the US and Iran in a war that has entered a fourth week. Bullion traded either side of $4,500 an ounce early on Monday, having lost nearly 11% last week. Surging oil prices have raised inflationary risks and reduced the likelihood of near-term interest-rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve and other central banks. This is a headwind for non-yielding gold, which has declined for eight consecutive sessions. Crude gained early on Monday, after US President Donald Trump gave Iran a two-day deadline to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or have its power plants bombed. Iran countered that it would close the strategic waterway “completely” and target energy, information technology and desalination infrastructure if its power facilities come under attack. Trump’s ultimatum came at 7:44 p.m. New York time on Saturday. Read More: Trump and Iran Hurl War Threats With Hormuz Crisis Building Spot gold rose 0.3% to $4,506.57 an ounce at 6:16 a.m. in Singapore, having fallen when trading opened. Silver was steady at $67.95. Platinum and palladium edged higher. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index , a gauge of the US currency, fell 0.5% last week.
US President Donald Trump’s border tsar said on Sunday that having immigration agents bolster short-staffed Transportation Security Administration (TSA) teams will speed up airport queues but the union for TSA workers said that does not solve what they see as the underlying problem of pay. In appearances on Sunday news shows, US border tsar Tom Homan and Transport Secretary Sean Duffy argued that...
US President Donald Trump’s border tsar said on Sunday that having immigration agents bolster short-staffed Transportation Security Administration (TSA) teams will speed up airport queues but the union for TSA workers said that does not solve what they see as the underlying problem of pay. In appearances on Sunday news shows, US border tsar Tom Homan and Transport Secretary Sean Duffy argued that Immigration and Customs Enforcement ( ICE ) staff can help with airport security screening, starting on Monday, even though they have not been specifically trained for it. “When we deploy tomorrow, we’ll have a well thought-out plan to execute,” Homan said on CNN’s State of the Union programme. Advertisement Tens of thousands of TSA agents have been working without pay for weeks because of an impasse between Democrats and Republicans in Congress over funding the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the parent agency of ICE and TSA. Advertisement Democrats have criticised the department’s immigration operations that have killed US citizens and sparked public outrage, demanding a change in rules. Some 10 per cent of TSA employees have been absent from work in recent days, with the rate even higher at major airports in Atlanta, New York City and Houston, leading to lengthy queues for passengers trying to get to their gates. Hundreds of TSA agents have simply resigned, according to their labour union and TSA.