The U.S. is better able to withstand shocks from abroad because of the progress consumers, companies and banks have made in buttressing their balance sheets, said Susan Lund, a principal at the McKinsey Global Institute in Washington.
"We have more resilience in the economy," she said. "Households are in somewhat better shape to take a rise in gas prices because they aren't so stretched with debt payments."
Their financial obligations -- everything from mortgages and rents to property taxes and car-lease payments -- fell to a 28-year low in the fourth quarter, when measured against disposable income, according to Fed data. That ratio stood at 15.9 percent at the end of 2011, down from a record 18.9 percent in the third quarter of 2007, just before the start of the 18- month recession that ended in June 2009.
Private-sector debt as a share of the economy fell to 201 percent at the end of last year from 207 percent in the first quarter of 2011 and a high of 236 percent in 2008, according to calculations by the institute, which is the research unit of consultants McKinsey & Co.
Financial companies have done the most deleveraging, while about two-thirds of the reduction in household debt was caused by defaults on mortgages and other consumer loans, Lund said.
JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo & Co., the two most profitable U.S. banks last year, reported first-quarter earnings that topped analysts' estimates on a surge in mortgage fees. JPMorgan's earnings per share climbed to $1.31 from $1.28 a year earlier, while Wells Fargo posted net income of 75 cents a share, up from 67 cents.
"We're in better shape than we were last year," said Allen Sinai, chief executive officer of Decision Economics Inc. in New York. "Household financial conditions are healthier and the banks are lending more."