San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
If you missed it ...
In a week when real estate fell and the RealReal rose, this also happened:
A popular Facebook grief support page reclaimed control of its account after a hacking attack that page administrators say went unaddressed for seven weeks. The moderators of the page, Grief the Unspoken, which has more than 500,000 followers, said an unidentified hacker first breached the account May 9. The hacker posted a photo of a disfigured child, a video of a person being rescued from a burning vehicle, graphic images of medical conditions and other disturbing content, according to the page’s moderators, who removed most of the posts. On Monday, the moderators said, they lost control of the page altogether. Apple said it is recalling some MacBook Pro laptops because of a fire hazard. The recalled MacBook Pros have a screen that measures 15 inches diagonally and were sold from September 2015 through February 2017 in the U.S. and Canada starting at about $2,000. The Cupertino company said it has gotten 26 reports about overheating, including five reports of minor burns and one report of smoke inhalation.
Long-term mortgage rates fell for the seventh time in the past nine weeks for the key 30-year, fixed-rate loan, which fell to 3.73% — its lowest level since November 2016.
The nation’s largest banks are rewarding shareholders by spending tens of billions raising their dividends and buying back stock after getting the green light from the Federal Reserve. The Fed said it had approved the capital plans the nation’s 18 largest banks submitted as part of this year’s stress tests. Immediately after the Fed’s announcement, the major banks started releasing their plans. JPMorgan said it plans to buy back $29.4 billion in shares this cycle and increase its dividend 12.5%. San Francisco’s Wells Fargo announced plans to buy back $23.1 billion in stock the next year and increase its dividend 13.3%. Citigroup said it would buy back $17.1 billion in stock and also plans to increase its dividend 13.3%.
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