JPM economist Michael Feroli said US........>

US VIEW: JPM economist Michael Feroli said US consumers "passed their triennial

financial checkup" as Fed Survey of Consumer Finances has "recently released

data for 2016. He added "only in the top income decile has the typical family

seen wealth surpass the previous, pre-crisis, peak. This is primarily a function

of the skew in stock ownership toward high income-earners."

- He adds "top-heavy growth in wealth has been mirrored in consumption gains

tilted toward richer households. Indebtedness has improved across most

demographic groups, though younger households remain at risk."

- "Most notably, wealth gains have been accruing overwhelmingly to the top of

the income distribution," he said. "Fincl asset values are soaring, and fncl

assets ownership is more narrowly concentrated among the rich, much more so than

houses, the other large asset on consumers' balance sheets. The skew in wealth

gains may also explain why the surge in the aggregate wealth-to-income ratio has

not pushed the saving rate lower. Lastly, the SCF shows that the improvement in

most measures of household leverage has been fairly broad based, though by some

measures younger households still appear somewhat over-indebted."