Hope, Lopez says, may buffer us from stress, anxiety and the effects of negative life events.

CNN: How hope can help you heal

For partners and spouses, "it is vital that they learn to create a buffer between the person's reaction to stress and their own experience, " says Robert Lawrence Friedman, president of Stress Solutions, a Forest Hills, N.

WSJ: When Your Partner Overreacts to Stress

The 7% includes a 2.5% "conservation buffer" to protect banks against periods of difficulty or stress.

BBC: Bank shares rise after new rules agreed

As part of the package of new standards, banks will be required to increase their minimum common equity requirement from 2% to 4.5%, and will additionally have to hold a capital conservation buffer of 2.5%, "to withstand future periods of stress, " the Basel Committee said in a press release.

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