LOCKDOWN WORKED:

U.S. household balance sheets are in their best shape in years, giving Americans greater capacity to propel consumer spending and, in some cases, to make life-altering decisions.

Across a number of measures, consumers are flush. Their debt-servicing costs have tumbled as a share of after-tax income and swelling wealth has made their liabilities shrink in relative terms. Economic growth has outpaced total household debt.  

"From a credit perspective, the consumer is the best we've seen in decades," said Matthew Mish, a credit strategist at UBS Group AG.

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