American's Net Worth down to $53.7 Trillion

The Fed's Flow of Funds report is out today,  for the quarter ended Sept '11.  Our net worth dropped this last quarter.  That drop was largely driven by a 17.2% decline in the value of equity securities.   That's a head scratcher to me though.  The S&P 500 only fell 13.1% from June 30 to Sept 30.  Maybe Americans are big holders in foreign equities,  which fell even more that quarter?

Another big component of the fall was the $1 Trillion loss in the value of our pension funds.  Again,  likely traced to equity prices falling,  and bond yields rising too.

Anyway,  flip to page 106 of the report to see the balance sheet of Americans.