Via Drudge, from the AP:

WASHINGTON – The net worth of U.S. households climbed to a record high in the final quarter of last year, boosted mostly by gains on stocks, the Federal Reserve reported Thursday. Net worth — the difference between households’ total assets, such as houses and bank accounts, and their total liabilities, such as mortgages and credit card debt, totaled $55.6 trillion in the October-to-December quarter. That marked a 2.5 percent growth rate from the third quarter, the previous quarterly record high. Stocks gains helped fuel the increase in net worth, although real-estate gains played a role, too. For all of last year, households’ net worth rose by 7.4 percent, a slower pace than the 7.9 percent increase registered in 2005. Household debt, meanwhile, grew by 8.6 percent in 2006, down from a 11.7 percent increase in the prior year. The Fed said this deceleration “was accounted for by much slower growth of home mortgage debt.” Home mortgage debt growth slowed to a 8.9 percent last year, compared with a 13.8 percent increase in 2005. This year’s growth in home mortgage debt was the smallest increase in six years.

Me: This post originally said “household incomes way up” in the title. That was a silly typo on my part. Thanks to everyone who pointed out as much.