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Despite stock fall, financial health of many is still solid

Visitors to Times Square walk past the ABC news ticker announcing a stock rebound, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2015, in New York. Hiring and home values are up. Gas prices and mortgage rates are down. Inflation is low. The pace of layoffs has dwindled to a trickle. Add it up, and the evidence suggests that many Americans, though certainly not all, are faring comparatively well. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
Visitors to Times Square walk past the ABC news ticker announcing a stock rebound, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2015, in New York. Hiring and home values are up. Gas prices and mortgage rates are down. Inflation is low. The pace of layoffs has dwindled to a trickle. Add it up, and the evidence suggests that many Americans, though certainly not all, are faring comparatively well. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

By Associated Press 5 min read

WASHINGTON (AP) – Many Americans have just absorbed a financial beating – at least as measured by their stock holdings. It’s the kind of blow that can feed a sense of helplessness about retirement, college savings and higher-than-expected bills.

But take a look at other gauges of Americans’ financial health, and a more nuanced picture emerges:

Hiring and home values are up. Gas prices and mortgage rates are down. Inflation is low. The pace of layoffs has dwindled.

Add it up, and the evidence suggests that many Americans – though certainly not all – are doing comparatively well.

Even the stock-market swoon can be put in perspective: Yes, the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index has tumbled 7 percent over the past week. Since the end of 2008, though, the S&P index has jumped nearly 123 percent.