Hundreds of staff from the ABC's Southbank office in Melbourne walked off the job for a 24-hour strike, forcing ABC services across TV, radio and digital to use BBC News content and repeat programming. Melbourne-based ABC journalist Daniel Ziffer said staff were striking because they have seen 'real cuts to real wages' ABC switches to BBC programming as staff walk off the job for 24-hour strike Co...
Hundreds of staff from the ABC's Southbank office in Melbourne walked off the job for a 24-hour strike, forcing ABC services across TV, radio and digital to use BBC News content and repeat programming. Melbourne-based ABC journalist Daniel Ziffer said staff were striking because they have seen 'real cuts to real wages' ABC switches to BBC programming as staff walk off the job for 24-hour strike Continue reading...
Alex Cristi /iStock via Getty Images Key takeaways 1 Fund performance Invesco Limited Term Municipal Income Fund Class A shares at net asset value (NAV) outperformed its style-specific index, the S&P Municipal Bond Investment Grade Short Intermediate Index. 2 Seeking attractive opportunities through collaborative management Invesco Municipal Bond team uses a collaborative management approach. Rely...
Alex Cristi /iStock via Getty Images Key takeaways 1 Fund performance Invesco Limited Term Municipal Income Fund Class A shares at net asset value (NAV) outperformed its style-specific index, the S&P Municipal Bond Investment Grade Short Intermediate Index. 2 Seeking attractive opportunities through collaborative management Invesco Municipal Bond team uses a collaborative management approach. Relying on our size and experience, we seek to identify the best opportunities to achieve potentially better outcomes for shareholders. 3 Analysis focused on creditworthiness Our team uses a bottom-up fundamental credit process focused on creditworthiness of individual issuers with an overlay of macroeconomic factors to capitalize on market inefficiencies. Our process has been time tested over full market cycles. Manager perspective and outlook In the fourth quarter, investment grade, high yield and taxable municipals delivered positive returns of 1.42%, 1.11% and 1.05%, with annual returns of 4.25%, 2.46% and 7.89%, respectively. 1 Despite a lengthy federal government shutdown, long-duration municipal bonds performed well during the quarter, bolstering market strength. 1 New municipal issuance reached $143 billion for the quarter and a record $584 billion for the year, surpassing last year's record $509 billion. Shifting interest rate policies, higher costs and political uncertainty likely encouraged more issuers to come to market. 1 Net flows for municipal mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) were strong, totaling approximately $17.5 billion for the quarter and $52.4 billion for the year. 2 The US Federal Reserve (Fed) cut the federal funds rate twice, by 0.25% in October and 0.25% in December. The Fed reiterated its commitment to balancing maximum employment and a 2% inflation target. 3 We believe state and local municipal budgets remain healthy. While credit rating upgrades have moderated, upgrades outpaced downgrades in 2025, demonstrating to us strong fundamental...
Microsoft (MSFT) stock has lost almost 23% year to date, at the time of writing, Tuesday afternoon, March 24, according to Yahoo Finance. Meanwhile, the SPDR S&P 500 index (SPY) is down about 3.75% in the same period. Alphabet (GOOGL) is down more than 5%.Amazon (AMZN) is down almost 10%.Apple ...
Microsoft (MSFT) stock has lost almost 23% year to date, at the time of writing, Tuesday afternoon, March 24, according to Yahoo Finance. Meanwhile, the SPDR S&P 500 index (SPY) is down about 3.75% in the same period. Alphabet (GOOGL) is down more than 5%.Amazon (AMZN) is down almost 10%.Apple ...
aimintang/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images Note: I have covered Barnes & Noble Education, Inc., or "BNED" ( BNED ), previously, so investors should view this as an update to my earlier articles on the company. Q3/FY2026 Earnings Review Earlier this month, Barnes & Noble Education reported mixed third-quarter results with solid year-over-year sales growth offset by declining margins and profitabi...
aimintang/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images Note: I have covered Barnes & Noble Education, Inc., or "BNED" ( BNED ), previously, so investors should view this as an update to my earlier articles on the company. Q3/FY2026 Earnings Review Earlier this month, Barnes & Noble Education reported mixed third-quarter results with solid year-over-year sales growth offset by declining margins and profitability: Company Press Releases / Regulatory Filings While the company's First Day and First Day Complete offerings continued to show solid year-over-year growth, consolidated gross margin declined by 160 basis points to 18.7%. Revenues from BNC First Day programs increased by $71.3 million, or 32.1%, year-over-year, to $293.6 million, as First Day® Complete continues to see strong growth in institutional adoption. A total of 237 campus stores utilized First Day Complete in the spring 2026 academic term with a total enrollment of approximately 1.25 million undergraduate and graduate students, up from 957,000 undergraduate and graduate students in the prior year. According to statements made in BNED's quarterly report on form 10-Q, product margins were impacted by " reduced logo and non-logo general merchandise sales and higher markdowns related to closed stores " . The issue was partially offset by lower costs related to the company's college and university contracts and non-renewal of certain lower performing school contracts. Adjusted EBITDA of $23.6 million was down slightly on a year-over-year basis. In the 10-Q, BNED attributed the decline to " certain timing differences in revenue recognition during the spring rush selling season, as well as investigation costs and other expenses incurred in the current period ". However, free cash flow improved from ($44.7) million in Q3/FY2025 to ($33.1) million. Barnes & Noble Education ended the quarter with $10.1 million in cash and cash equivalents as well as $138.4 million drawn under the company's revolving credit facility. Full-...
Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) has probably been the most consistently dominant tech company of the last 50 years. However, in the AI era, which Microsoft helped spark with its OpenAI partnership, Microsoft suddenly finds itself on the outside looking in. In less than five months, Microsoft stock has fallen by nearly a third, even as the tech giant has continued to deliver strong results. The Windows-ma...
Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) has probably been the most consistently dominant tech company of the last 50 years. However, in the AI era, which Microsoft helped spark with its OpenAI partnership, Microsoft suddenly finds itself on the outside looking in. In less than five months, Microsoft stock has fallen by nearly a third, even as the tech giant has continued to deliver strong results. The Windows-maker has gotten swept up in broader concerns about the AI threat on enterprise software, as virtually the entire software sector has fallen from Anthropic's rollout of new disruptive agents. There have also been anecdotal reports about companies replacing traditional enterprise software programs with custom tools created with AI, often known as vibecoding. Continue reading