Summary
More scary numbers from our friends abroad! Per the latest flow-of-funds data from the Federal Reserve, total US financial assets held by foreign investors rose to an enormous $10.416 trillion as of 6/30/05. Net foreign financial claims against the United States stood at $5.173 trillion.
_____
Earlier today, the Federal Reserve released its latest flow-of-funds data, current through 6/30/05. I am passing along tables containing the important foreign numbers with little comment, to get them into circulation as quickly as possible. A discussion of these data will soon follow.
* As of 6/30, total US financial assets held by foreign investors rose to a $10.416 trillion. Net foreign financial claims against the United States stood at $5.173 trillion. As of 3/31, the respective totals were $10.170 trillion and $5.087 trillion.
* As of 6/30. foreign investors held $2.024 trillion of US Treasury debt. In turn, this was equal to slightly more than 45% of all the Treasury's debt held by public investors. Total Treasury debt held by foreigners as of 3/31 was about $1.990 trillion, almost 44% of all the Treasury debt held by public investors.
* During the June quarter, foreign investors ("official" and "private") acquired a net of $34.2 billion in Treasury debt. In turn, this equaled 19 times the $1.8 billion the Treasury issued during the period.
* As of 6/30, the 15 foreign countries/regions holding the largest amount of Treasury debt held a total of $1.702 trillion. The 3/31 total was $1.660 trillion.
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Table 1.
------------------------------------------
FOREIGNERS' U.S. FINANCIAL
ASSETS/LIABILITIES
(Billions of Dollars, Latest Data
Released 09/21/05 Through 06/30/05)
------------------------------------------
Total Total
Financial Financial
Assets Liabilities Difference
------------------------------------------
2005
06/30 10416.0 5243.3 5172.7
03/31 10169.7 5082.9 5086.8
------------------------------------------
As of
12/31
-----
2004 9787.9 4928.2 4859.1
2003 8381.2 4168.1 4213.1
2002 7576.8 4070.1 3506.7
2001 7065.9 3657.4 3408.5
2000 6584.9 3475.5 3109.4
=======================================
1990 2001.0 1388.8 612.2
---------------------------------------
1985 967.4 869.7 +97.7
1984 805.3 841.6 -36.3
---------------------------------------
1980 494.2 666.4 -172.2
1970 104.8 140.5 -35.7
1960 38.9 63.5 -24.6
1950 17.4 31.4 -14.0
=======================================
1945 16.3 14.9 1.4
------------------------------------------
Source: "Flow of Funds Accounts
of the United States" (Federal
Reserve "Z.1" release).
------------------------------------------
Table 2.
-----------------------------------------------
FOREIGN HOLDINGS OF US FINANCIAL ASSETS
AS OF 06/30/05 (Billions of Dollars
-- Latest Data Released 09/21/05)
-----------------------------------------------
% of
Total
Total US Financial Assets -----
Held by Foreign Investors 10416.0 100.0
===============================================
Credit-Market Instruments# 4893.3 47.0
------ ----
Open Market Paper 141.3
US Govt. Securities 2853.1
Treasury 2023.8
Agency 829.3
US Corporate Bonds 1898.9
-----------------------------------------------
US Corporate Equities 2094.9 20.1
------ ----
Credit-Market Instr.
+ Corp. Equities 6988.2 67.1
====== ====
-----------------------------------------------
Detail of US Government Securities
-----------------------------------------------
Treasury 2023.8
Official 1297.5
Private 726.3
Agency 829.3
Official 285.6
Private 543.7
------
2853.1
======
-----------------------------------------------
Source: "Flow of Funds Accounts of the United
States" (Federal Reserve "Z.1" release.) #For
the purpose of this analysis, the category
"Loans to US Corporate Business" has been ex-
cluded. As of 06/30/05, this category had tot-
al outstandings of $172.0 billion.
-----------------------------------------------
Table 3.
----------------------------------------
15 LARGEST FOREIGN HOLDERS OF U.S.
TREASURY DEBT AS OF 06/30/05, VS. THE
SAME COUNTRIES' HOLDINGS AS OF 03/31/05
(Amounts in Billions of $s)*
----------------------------------------
06/30 03/31
Country 2005 2005
----------------------------------------
( 1) Japan 681.3 680.5
( 2) Mainland China 243.7 223.5
( 3) United Kingdom 144.9 122.2
( 4) Caribbean Bank-
ing Centers@ 107.2 137.2
( 5) Taiwan 71.2 71.1
( 6) Germany 61.1 56.0
( 7) Korea 59.6 57.7
( 8) OPEC 57.3 62.2
( 9) Hong Kong 48.2 45.2
(10) Norway 45.3 16.9
(11) Canada 43.6 38.4
(12) Switzerland 39.4 44.1
(13) Luxembourg 38.5 42.2
(14) Mexico 31.9 32.5
(15) Singapore 28.9 30.7
----------------------------------------
Total 1702.1 1660.4
----------------------------------------
*Estimated end-of-period foreign
holdings of US Treasury marketable
and nonmarketable bills, bonds and
notes based on Treasury Foreign
Portfolio Investment Survey bench-
marks and on monthly data reported
under the Treasury International
Capital (TIC) reporting system.
Totals comprise both official and
private holdings. Data subject to
revision. @Includes Bahamas, Ber-
muda, Cayman Islands, Netherlands
Antilles, and Panama.
----------------------------------------
Table 4.
--------------------------------------------------------
NET ACQUISITION OF U.S. FINANCIAL ASSETS
BY FOREIGN INVESTORS -- 2000 TO 06/30/05*
(Billions of Dollar)
--------------------------------------------------------
Years Ended December 31
------------------------------ 06/30
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005*
----- ----- ----- ----- ------ ------
Net Acquisition
of Finan. Assets 963.0 657.7 767.8 842.9 1258.4 973.3
================= ===== ===== ===== ===== ====== =====
Credit-Market
Instruments
----------------
Open-Mkt. Paper 4.3 -2.6 10.3 7.0 30.6 47.8
Treasury Sec. -70.5 10.5 138.9 288.9 358.5 136.9
Agency Sec. 141.9 103.7 112.3 6.5 104.8 167.9
Corp. Bonds 168.4 195.4 151.0 230.0 254.4 346.3
----- ----- ----- ----- ------ -----
Subtotal 244.1 307.0 412.5 532.4 748.3 698.9
----- ----- ----- ----- ------ -----
Corp. Equities 193.6 121.5 54.1 35.0 61.9 50.0
----- ----- ----- ----- ------ ------
Total 437.7 428.5 466.6 567.4 810.2 748.9
===== ===== ===== ===== ====== =====
Above/Net Acquis. 45.5% 65.2% 60.8% 67.3% 64.4% 76.9%
----- ----- ----- ----- ------ -----
MEMO ITEM@
----------------
Loans to Corp-
orate Business -2.2 -1.6 10.1 -0.8 6.3 51.2
--------------------------------------------------------
DISTRIBUTION OF TREASURY/AGENCY ACQUISITIONS
--------------------------------------------------------
Treasury Securities
--------------------------------------------------------
Official -5.2 33.7 60.5 184.9 272.6 90.9
Private -65.3 -23.2 78.4 104.0 85.9 46.0
---- ---- ----- ----- ----- -----
Total -70.5 10.5 138.9 288.9 358.5 136.9
--------------------------------------------------------
Agency Securities
--------------------------------------------------------
Official 40.9 20.9 30.5 39.9 38.5 86.5
Private 101.0 82.8 81.8 -33.4 66.3 81.4
----- ----- ----- ---- ----- -----
Total 141.9 103.7 112.3 6.5 104.8 167.9
--------------------------------------------------------
*Source: "Flow of Funds Accounts of the United
States" (Federal Reserve "Z.1" release). 2Q05
figures are at seasonally adjusted annual rates.
@Although "Loans to Corporate Business" are
classified by the Federal Reserve as "Capital
Market Instruments," they have been excluded for
the purpose of this examination, since they lack
the liquidity of the other categories.
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