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Report on U.S. Portfolio Holdings of Foreign Securities at End-Year 2006

(Archived Content)

 

 

The findings from an annual survey of U.S. portfolio holdings of foreign securities at end-year 2006 are released today and posted on the U.S. Treasury web site ( http://www.treas.gov/tic/fpis.html #usclaims).

A complementary survey measuring foreign portfolio holdings of U.S. securities is also carried out annually.  Preliminary results from the most recent such survey, covering securities held as of June 30, 2007, are expected to be reported by February 29, 2008.

These surveys are undertaken jointly by the U.S. Treasury, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. 

Overall Results

The survey measured the value of U.S. holdings of foreign securities at year-end 2006 of approximately $5,991 billion, with $4,329 billion held in foreign equities, $1,294 billion in foreign long-term debt securities (original term-to-maturity in excess of one year), and $368 billion in foreign short-term debt securities.  The previous survey measured U.S. holdings at year-end 2005 of approximately $4,609 billion, with $3,318 billion held in foreign equities, $1,028 billion in foreign long-term debt securities, and $263 billion in foreign short-term debt securities (see Table 1).

U.S. portfolio holdings of foreign securities by country at the end of 2006 were by far the largest for the United Kingdom ($1,076 billion), followed by Japan ($596 billion) and Canada ($478 billion) (see Table 2).

The surveys are part of an internationally-coordinated effort under the auspices of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to improve the measurement of portfolio asset holdings.


Table 1.  Value of U.S. holdings of foreign securities, by type of security, at end-2005 and end-2006 [1]    

(Billions of dollars)

Type of Security

Dec. 31, 2005

Dec. 31, 2006

 

 

 

Long-term Securities

4,346

5,623

                Equity

3,318

4,329

                long-term debt

1,028

1,294

Short-term debt securities

263

368

 

 

 

Total

4,609

5,991

 

U.S. Portfolio Investment by Country

Table 2.  Value of U.S. holdings of foreign securities, by country and type of security, for the countries attracting the most U.S. investment, as of December 31, 2006

(Billions of dollars, except as noted)

 

 

 

 

 

Debt securities:

 

 

Total

Equities

 

Long-term

 

Short-term

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1

United Kingdom

1,076

   674

 

  245

 

156

2

Japan

   596

   544

 

   46

 

    7

3

Canada

   478

   298

 

 162

 

  18

4

France

   401

   307

 

   63

 

  32

5

Cayman Islands

   376

   161

 

 178

 

  37

6

Germany

   292

   220

 

   62

 

  10

7

Switzerland

   264

   263

 

     1

 

    *

8

Netherlands

   234

   161

 

   68

 

    5

9

Bermuda

   208

   192

 

   14

 

    3

10

Australia

   173

   102

 

   62

 

  10

11

Korea , South

   124

   114

 

   10

 

    *

12

Ireland

   121

     48

 

   38

 

  34

13

Spain

   111

     86

 

   24

 

    1

14

Brazil

   110

     92

 

   18

 

    *

15

Mexico

   108

     85

 

   24

 

    *

16

Italy

   106

     93

 

   12

 

    1

17

Sweden

   102

     59

 

   24

 

  19

18

Hong Kong

     88

     86

 

     2

 

    *

19

China , mainland [2]

     75

     74

 

     1

 

    *

20

Taiwan

     74

     74

 

     *

 

    0

21

Luxembourg

     60

     16

 

   37

 

    7

22

Finland

     60

     56

 

     4

 

    *

23

Netherlands Antilles

     58

     56

 

     2

 

    *

24

Singapore

     53

     44

 

     9

 

    *

25

Norway  

     51

     32

 

    15

 

    4

 

Rest of world

   592

   393

 

  174

 

  24

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total value of investment

 5,991

4,329

 

1,294

 

368

*  Greater than zero and less than $500 million.  Note: items may not add to total due to rounding.

-30-

[1] The stock of foreign securities for December 31, 2006, reported in this survey does not, for a number or reasons, correspond to the stock of foreign securities on December 31, 2005, plus cumulative flows reported in Treasury's transactions reporting system.  An analysis of the relation between the stock and flow data is available in Table 4 and the associated text of the final report on U.S.

[2]  Excludes Hong Kong and Macau, which are reported separately.

 

 

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