Biggest US banks ace stress tests, a good omen for dividends

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The largest U.S. banks have more than enough capital to withstand a major economic shock, based on annual Federal Reserve stress test results released Friday that help determine how much the lenders can pay in dividends and spend on stock buybacks.

Under the harshest test scenario, a severe recession with unemployment spiking to 10% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling by more than 50% to about 12,800, evaluators projected that the banks examined this year would lose just 5.7% of assets, or $410 billion. That’s a decrease from 7.5% six years ago.

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