US household wealth up 2.6% in Q3

US combined household wealth rose solidly in the third quarter, fueled by increases in financial assets and home values, U.S. Federal Reserve said on Monday. U.S. household net worth, the difference between the value of assets and liabilities, rose by 1.92 trillion U.S. dollars, up 2.6 percent from the previous three months, to 77.3 trillion dollars in the July-September period, the Fed said. Boosted by the bullish U.S. stock market, household financial assets increased by 1.5 trillion dollars to 63.9 trillion dollars in the third quarter. The value of corporate equities and mutual funds owned by households expanded 917 billion dollars. The total U.S. household home value jumped 428.5 billion dollars to about 19 trillion dollars by the end of the third quarter, the Fed said. Meanwhile, the household debt rose at an annual rate of 3 percent in the third quarter, indicating that the American households were more willing to borrow. The U.S. central bank has been trying to fuel wealth-led growth by keeping monetary policy highly accommodative. Its bond buying program, known as quantitative easing, has helped push up the values of stock and housing markets. Though increasing household wealth bodes well for consumer spending, the main driver of U.S. economic growth, critics say the Fed's easy money policy has superficially boosted bond prices and skewed U.S. wealth distribution.