Sure. Sure, Kartik. Let me start with money order and I''ll come back to marketing here in a minute. Money order in simple terms, yes, will play out for the next three quarters in 2010 because we''ve invested those funds in tax free type investments. So there will be in geographic issues on the income statement as far as operating income but we believe the net income will directionally be the same as we''ve been earning historically.
On marketing, as you might recall, as we entered the year cautious because of the economic landscape and what 2009 may shape up to be. So actually in the first quarter of the year we were closer to 4% of our marketing spend. So as we move through the year, as we see the economy and the markets develop. We''re going to invest more in the fourth quarter compared to earlier in the year and probably a tad bit more compared to prior year. Really in a goal to continue to gain market share which we believe we''ve done but also to support our domestic business but our goal is to invest for growth and continue to gain shares as we move forward.
Kartik Mehta - Northcoast Research
Christina, can you talk a little bit about what you''re seeing in terms of immigration trends, if you''re seeing them overall improve or kind of remain the same?
Christina A. Gold
You know, it''s varied around the globe but I think what we see as we look at the United States in terms of particularly for the U.S. Mexico business, we''re not seeing new immigration come into the country. We''re not seeing people leave but there''s not a new level of migration in.
Around the globe, I think the one area where we''re seeing some exit is from the Middle East. We have seen some reduction in migration but I think that''s very much connected to the price of oil. So we may see some uptick and come back as the price of oil goes back. So we''re not seeing big changes in trend, I think a little bit we''re seeing it in Russia, there''s some issues and obviously Spain continues to be challenged and that''s very much driven by unemployment. But as we look at our numbers and we look at the World Bank, there''s a call for a return to modest growth in 2010.
Kartik Mehta - Northcoast Research
And just one last question, you talked a little bit about repositioning the domestic business. Do you think, is the repositioning the result of just what''s happening in the economy or it''s because competition has changed or there''s some other factors forcing you or wanting you to reposition this business?
Christina A. Gold
You know, I think we''ve looked at the domestic business having a lot of challenges over the last period of time and clearly a lot of that has been -- has come from the economy and also the high percentage of Hispanic consumers within the domestic business.
But as we looked at it and as we looked at our, let’s say, pricing, let''s say from U.S. to China versus New York to Chicago, there just seems to be some inconsistency. So Stewart''s team did an excellent job of doing a lot of research and a lot of work to test different price points and also different points in terms of marketing.
We now have a standard pricing and that''s critical for us because as we go to market and whether we advertise in one city or another, we don''t have to change anything now. It''s a common price point across the country, excellent value. Still premium priced but I think the marketing that they put in place and we are putting a little bit more than we normally would in the fourth quarter on domestic because we feel it''s an opportunity now to go back in and push hard to get people back into the business to gain market share and be ready for 2010.
Kartik Mehta - Northcoast Research
Thank you very much.
Christina A. Gold
Thanks.
Operator
And our next question will come from the line of Bryan Keane with Credit Suisse. Please proceed.
Bryan Keane - Credit Suisse
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