U.S. household net worth falls for first time since 2011

'The net worth of U.S. households fell in the third quarter for the first time in three years, hit by a fall in the value of their stock holdings and rising debts, giving mixed signals on the outlook for consumer spending.

The decline was modest, pushing the vast total wealth of American families down just $140 billion to $81.35 trillion, a report by the Federal Reserve showed on Thursday.

But it breaks a long uninterrupted chain of gains that many economists say have gradually made U.S. consumers more willing to spend their cash. Many economists think consumers spend a few cents out of every dollar that their net worth increases.

The last time net worth declined was in the third quarter of 2011.'

U.S. household net worth falls for first time since 2011


Take QE away...

The way I read that chart is that the increases are relative to the low in 2008. Then more loss below the 2008 baseline in 2009 and then a small increase over the 2009 bottom and each following relative to that. In short, I don't think the picture/graph, and I like graphs, depicts an accurate history. I could be wrong.

DA60 said:

Click to expand...

If the Dow goes to 10.000 or even 9.000, which could easily happen, the hit to wealth would be larger.

DaveFagan said:

The way I read that chart is that the increases are relative to the low in 2008. Then more loss below the 2008 baseline in 2009 and then a small increase over the 2009 bottom and each following relative to that. In short, I don't think the picture/graph, and I like graphs, depicts an accurate history. I could be wrong.

Click to expand...

I agree that the graph doesn't do a good job. It's hard for me to see what progress if any, has been made to recoup the losses that occurred in 08 and 09. Have we finally caught up where we were before this drop again? How much further do we have to go until we're there? Or maybe we have fully healed since the "Great Recession" and if so, maybe this dip doesn't seem as bad.

Context here is what this graph is missing.

DaveFagan said:

The way I read that chart is that the increases are relative to the low in 2008. Then more loss below the 2008 baseline in 2009 and then a small increase over the 2009 bottom and each following relative to that. In short, I don't think the picture/graph, and I like graphs, depicts an accurate history. I could be wrong.

Click to expand...

I dunno...maybe you are right.

But I just post 'em, I don't make 'em.

Here is the source:

After 11 Quarters In A Row, US Households See Net Worth Tumble $141 Billion In Q3 | Zero Hedge