(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

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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.” (more…)