U.S. Banks Pass Federal Reserve Stress Test America’s biggest banks have passed the U.S. Federal Reserve’s annual stress test of their ability to withstand market shocks. The lenders were found to have enough capital available to manage issues that include high unemployment, collapsing real estate prices, and a drop in stocks. Major banks such as JPMorgan Chase Co. (JPM), Morgan Stanley (MS) and Goldman Sachs (GS) also faced a hypothetical market shock that tested the resiliency of their trading desks. The U.S. Federal Reserve said it examined more than 30 lenders and found they were each able to remain above their minimum capital requirements during the hypothetical economic meltdown, which would have caused them theoretical losses of $612 billion U.S. Passing the annual stress test gives the U.S. banks approval to return billions of dollars to investors in the form of dividend payments and share buybacks. British bank Barclays (BARC) forecasts that JPMorgan will lead the way among U.S. lenders with $18.9 billion U.S. in combined dividends and share buybacks, followed by Bank of America (BAC) and Wells Fargo (WFC) with $15.5 billion U.S. and $15.3 billion U.S. respectively.