The bottom line

■ Applications to refinance a home loan increased 19 percent last week after mortgage rates dipped nearer to 7 percent, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Applications for a mortgage to purchase a home rose 4 percent.

CNBC.com

■ In Charlotte, N.C., investors purchased 17 percent of the city’s homes last year in cash. In one neighborhood in east Charlotte, Wall Street–backed investors bought half of the homes that sold in 2021 and 2022.

The New York Times

■ Baker & Hostetler, the law firm of Irving Picard, who is overseeing the liquidation of Bernie Madoff’s firm, has been awarded $1.5 billion in fees for its work on the case since 2009. The latest bill from the firm—which has recovered $14.6 billion for victims of Madoff’s Ponzi scheme—asks for $37.9 million for 68,000 hours of work by 190 lawyers and professionals.

Reuters

■ Top law firm Cravath, Swaine, and Moore raised starting salaries for first-year associates to $225,000 with a $15,000 year-end bonus—a level that other top firms are likely to match. Seventh-year associates will make $420,000, with a $105,000 bonus.

Above the Law

■ Nearly two-thirds of households in the bottom 20 percent of incomes pay more than half of their income for rent and utilities, according to the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies.

The New York Times

■ Ford will cut planned production of its all-electric F-150 Lightning by half next year, from 3,200 on average per week to 1,600. The company has sold 20,365 of the trucks this year through November.

CNBC.com