Happy Friday, MarketWatchers! We made it. Here are your top stories in personal finance. Personal Finance 130,000 veterans are about to get a hefty refund from the Department of Defense Veterans face unique financial challenges — here’s what they might want to do with the money. God-fearing countries are among the least wealthy—with one big → Read More

Some veterans who have received disability payments may want to keep an eye out for mail from the Department of Defense — there could be money in it for them. Veterans who left the military because of combat-related injuries between 1991 and 2016 may have been wrongly taxed on their one-time lump-sum disability severance pay, → Read More

JPMorgan Chase Co.’s JPM, +1.07%  Chief Executive Jamie Dimon was the highest-paid CEO in the U.S. banking sector last year, snagging a tidy $28.3 million in total compensation, up 3.9% from the previous year, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. Bank of America Corp. BAC, +1.30%  CEO Brian Moynihan came in second place with total → Read More

Bloomberg News/Landov More babies appear to be dying because of a U.S. law meant to reduce violence in Africa connected to the mining of rare minerals. More than twice as many babies in the Democratic Republic of the Congo may be dying because of a U.S. bank law known as Dodd-Frank that tried to tame → Read More

That story about the young Alabama man whose boss gave him a car after he had to walk 20 miles to work was a heartwarming story about grit, determination and generosity. But the story also lifted up the rock covering a festering economic and social problem that doesn’t get much attention, even in these days → Read More

Shares of General Electric Co. took a dive Friday, with losses accelerating after Chief Executive John Flannery’s comments during the post-earnings conference call helped take the shine off better-than-expected second-quarter results. The struggling industrial conglomerate reported an adjusted profit and revenue that fell from a year ago but beat analyst expectations, with even its biggest → Read More

Oil prices have lost more than 8% this month, but investors should be aware that a roughly 40% spike from last week’s levels to more than $120 is possible this year. “This is a tight market. Supply and demand are close,” says Matt Badiali, senior research analyst at Banyan Hill. Global oil demand is expected → Read More

A modest knee-jerk reaction aside, investors appear confident President Donald Trump’s criticism of Federal Reserve rate increases won’t alter the central bank’s policy path. But it is possible that Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s job just got a lot harder. “It’s not that I don’t take it seriously, but I think there may be more bluster → Read More

Microsoft Corp.’s rally on the heels of strong earnings is helping to keep the Dow Jones Industrial Average barely in the green, as tariff concerns weigh on others in the market. Shares of Microsoft MSFT, +2.19% are up 2.7% in Friday morning trading after the company showed strong growth across a variety of business segments → Read More

The gap between the onshore- and offshore-traded Chinese yuan is growing, offering evidence that the People’s Bank of China is not willfully devaluing its currency, says Dankse Bank chief analyst Allan von Mehren. On Thursday, the yuan hit a one-year low against the dollar, and the PBOC lowered its dollar-yuan reference rate by the most → Read More