Saturday, June 13, 2009
While recent news of slight improvements in retail sales and unemployment figures offer modest signs of economic recovery, a new report released by the Federal Reserve offers a sobering reminder of just how harsh the recession has been for the country. During the first quarter of this year, the nation lost $1.3 trillion in wealth as a result of stock market losses and declining home values, which averages out to $4,239 per American.
Data compiled by the Fed revealed that stock holdings dropped almost 6% during the first three months of 2009, and over the past two years, more than half of the total value of the U.S. stock market was wiped out.
Meanwhile, homeowners had only 41.4% equity in their homes in the first quarter, the lowest on record dating to 1945. Housing prices dropped 7.5% from January to March, and since 2006, they have plummeted 32%.
The one piece of good news among the Fed’s findings was that savings is up. With so many Americans afraid for their economic security, personal savings rates rose 5.7% in April, the highest since 1995. Collectively, savings totaled $620.2 billion, the most on record dating to January 1959.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
First 3 Months of 2009 Wiped Out $1.3 Trillion, Driving Americans' Net Worth to '04 Levels (by Jeannine Aversa, Associated Press)
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