A woman swings on a swing in Venao beach in Pedasi, Panama, Saturday, July 13, 2024. (Photo by Matias Delacroix/AP Photo)

Some are in it just for the money, others to help buy a meal. Then there are those who trade for fun or to spend time among friends. Millions of investors – pensioners, security guards, high-school students – dominate China's stock markets, conducting about 80 percent of all trades. Retirees gather in brokerage houses dotted around China also to enjoy some company and savour the air conditioning on hot days. Some start as young as 13, trading from home with an eye on future careers in finance. Winning isn't guaranteed. This year, among the most turbulent in China's financial history, its stock markets more than doubled in the six months to May, only to crash amid concerns that growth in the country, which makes everything from cars to steel, is slowing faster than previously thought. (Photo by Aly Song/Reuters)

In this July 24, 2016 photo, a pilgrim takes a bath in a sacred mud pool during the annual Voodoo celebration in Plaine-du-Nord, Haiti, Saturday, July 23, 2016. Pilgrims come to bathe in the mud and make offerings expecting a miracle. (Photo by Dieu Nalio Chery/AP Photo)

A painted figure is seen on a wall of the home of the mother of Robert E. Crimo III, the 21-year-old suspect facing seven counts of first-degree murder in an attack on a Fourth of July parade, in Highland Park, Illinois, U.S. July 6, 2022. (Photo by Cheney Orr/Reuters)

American reality show contestant Courtney Stodden is caught kissing a mystery woman on the beach in Santa Monica, CA on September 16, 2016. Courtney and the mystery brunette couldn't keep their hands of each other and didn't seem to care who saw their antics as they frolicked on the sand. (Photo by Canham/Splash News)

A model presents a creation by Spanish designer Agatha Ruiz de la Prada during the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Madrid, MBFWM, in Madrid, Spain, 16 September 2016. The MBFWM runs from 15 to 20 September 2016. (Photo by J.J. Guillen/EPA)

A firefighter recovers after climbing the 1800 steps of the Costanera Centre Tower as part of the “Race for Life” aimed at encouraging organ donation in Chile, in Santiago, on October 16, 2016. More than 500 volunteer firefighters are expected to climb the 1800 steps of the tallest building in South America to promote and encourage organ donation in the country. (Photo by Claudio Reyes/AFP Photo)

Rescue workers stand next to TK Bremen cargo ship which ran aground during a powerful storm, spilling oil off the coast of France's northwestern region of Brittany as it lies stranded on Kerminihy beach in Erdeven, on December 16, 2011. (Photo by Damien Meyer/AFP Photo)