What it showed is that one quarter after the biggest drop in household net worth on record when $8 trillion was wiped out, the net worth of households and nonprofit organizations rebounded by $7.6 trillion to $119.0 trillion, the biggest quarterly increase in history.

The second quarter increase in net worth was roughly equal to the $7.2 trillion decline recorded in Q1, leaving net worth about equal to its level at the end of 2019. As usual, the biggest swing factor was in the value of market-linked securities: in Q2, the value of directly and indirectly held corporate equities increased by $5.7 trillion due to the rebound in corporate equity prices (which plunged by $8.3 trillion in Q1 2020). The high rate of personal saving also contributed to the increase in net worth, while the value of real estate held by households increased modestly.