Stocks lift wealth in households

Still lacking the confidence to spend at normal levels, businesses have stockpiled nearly $1.9 trillion in cash, a record, the government said Thursday.

Cash now accounts for 13 percent of corporate assets, the highest share since 1984. Economists say the surest way to reduce unemployment would be for companies to spend more of that cash to expand and hire.

The same report, based on data from the last three months of last year, showed households are further rebuilding the wealth they lost in the recession. Americans' net worth grew 3.8 percent, mostly thanks to the rising stock market. Greater household wealth generally leads Americans to spend more. They increased their spending in the October-December quarter at the fastest pace since 2006.

Household net worth came to $56.8 trillion at the end of 2010, even though the value of real-estate holdings fell 1.6 percent, according to the Fed. Last quarter's gain was faster than the 2.6 percent gain in the previous quarter.

Christina Aguilera Victoria Pratt Hayden Panettiere Leslie Bega Samaire Armstrong