Press Releases

Treasury International Capital Data for April

(Archived Content)

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of the Treasury today released Treasury International Capital (TIC) data for April 2013.  The next release, which will report on data for May 2013, is scheduled for July 16, 2013.
 
The sum total in April of all net foreign acquisitions of long-term securities, short-term U.S. securities, and banking flows was a monthly net TIC inflow of $12.7 billion.  Of this, net foreign private inflows were $42.1 billion, and net foreign official inflows were negative $29.4 billion.
 
Foreign residents decreased their holdings of long-term U.S. securities in April – net sales were $24.8 billion.  Net sales by private foreign investors were $17.8 billion, and net sales by foreign official institutions were $6.9 billion.
 
At the same time, U.S. residents increased their holdings of long-term foreign securities, with net purchases of $12.6 billion.
 
Taking into account transactions in both foreign and U.S. securities, the net foreign purchases of long-term securities were negative $37.3 billion.  After including adjustments, such as estimates of unrecorded principal payments to foreigners on U.S. asset-backed securities, the overall net foreign acquisition of long-term securities is estimated to have been negative $57.1 billion in April.
 
Foreign residents decreased their holdings of U.S. Treasury bills by $15.1 billion.  Foreign resident holdings of all dollar-denominated short-term U.S. securities and other custody liabilities decreased by $30.1 billion.
 
Banks’ own net dollar-denominated liabilities to foreign residents increased by $99.9 billion.
 
Complete data are available on the Treasury website at:

About TIC Data
 
The monthly data on holdings of long-term securities, as well as the monthly table on Major Foreign Holders of Treasury Securities, reflect foreign holdings of U.S. securities collected primarily on the basis of custodial data.  These data help provide a window into foreign ownership of U.S. securities, but they cannot attribute holdings of U.S. securities with complete accuracy.  For example, if a U.S. Treasury security purchased by a foreign resident is held in a custodial account in a third country, the true ownership of the security will not be reflected in the data.  The custodial data will also not properly attribute U.S. Treasury securities managed by foreign private portfolio managers who invest on behalf of residents of other countries.  In addition, foreign countries may hold dollars and other U.S. assets that are not captured in the TIC data.  For these reasons, it is difficult to draw precise conclusions from TIC data about changes in the foreign holdings of U.S. financial assets by individual countries.
 
 
 
TIC Monthly Reports on Cross-Border Financial Flows
(Billions of dollars, not seasonally adjusted)
                12 Months Through        
            2011 2012 Apr-12 Apr-13 Jan-13 Feb-13 Mar-13 Apr-13
Foreigners' Acquisitions of Long-term Securities    
   
1 Gross Purchases of Domestic U.S. Securities 27818.8 24583.6 27256.2 24985.1 2057.9 2316.3 2259.8 2377.2
2 Gross Sales of Domestic U.S. Securities 27325.5 23949.6 26786.4 24487.7 2009.1 2304.0 2244.5 2402.0
3 Domestic Securities Purchased, net (line 1 less line 2) /1 493.4 634.0 469.8 497.4 48.9 12.3 15.3 -24.8
     
4 Private, net /2 322.6 408.1 292.2 309.2 -14.1 13.4 9.7 -17.8
5 Treasury Bonds & Notes, net 288.4 207.4 288.6 121.9 -20.8 9.4 22.1 -30.8
6 Gov't Agency Bonds, net 57.6 134.2 72.4 106.3 -0.9 -1.9 -7.8 6.9
7 Corporate Bonds, net -44.0 -30.9 -54.1 -16.2 2.7 8.6 -8.2 -4.4
8 Equities, net 20.6 97.4 -14.6 97.1 4.9 -2.7 3.6 10.4
     
9 Official, net /3 170.7 225.9 177.6 188.2 63.0 -1.1 5.6 -6.9
10 Treasury Bonds & Notes, net 144.2 209.9 173.0 116.1 53.1 -6.7 -16.8 -23.7
11 Gov't Agency Bonds, net 23.3 -1.3 -1.1 45.7 5.5 3.9 17.3 16.0
12 Corporate Bonds, net -1.2 7.0 1.3 12.7 3.1 1.0 2.0 -0.1
13 Equities, net 4.5 10.3 4.5 13.7 1.3 0.7 3.2 0.8
     
14 Gross Purchases of Foreign Securities from U.S. Residents 7499.3 7379.8 7420.2 7522.1 688.9 622.3 681.2 720.3
15 Gross Sales of Foreign Securities to U.S. Residents 7623.6 7402.5 7429.4 7642.9 711.4 647.7 709.9 732.9
16 Foreign Securities Purchased, net (line 14 less line 15) /4 -124.3 -22.6 -9.3 -120.8 -22.5 -25.4 -28.8 -12.6
     
17 Foreign Bonds Purchased, net -52.6 17.0 20.6 -16.7 -2.7 -6.7 -2.0 4.2
18 Foreign Equities Purchased, net -71.7 -39.7 -29.9 -104.1 -19.8 -18.7 -26.8 -16.8
     
19 Net Long-term Securities Transactions (line 3 plus line 16): 369.0 611.4 460.5 376.5 26.4 -13.1 -13.4 -37.3
   
20 Other Acquisitions of Long-term Securities, net /5 -172.2 -237.2 -181.5 -249.0 -21.7 -19.8 -18.4 -19.7
   
21 Net Foreign Acquisition of Long-term Securities    
(lines 19 and 20): 196.8 374.1 279.1 127.5 4.7 -32.9 -31.8 -57.1
   
22 Increase in Foreign Holdings of Dollar-denominated Short-term    
U.S. Securities and Other Custody Liabilities: /6 -99.6 62.9 -55.4 80.7 11.8 11.8 35.6 -30.1
23 U.S. Treasury Bills -62.6 14.0 -34.6 84.8 10.4 14.0 34.2 -15.1
24 Private, net 42.5 -1.5 39.2 33.5 6.0 5.5 15.8 -10.3
25 Official, net -105.1 15.5 -73.7 51.3 4.4 8.5 18.5 -4.8
26 Other Negotiable Instruments    
and Selected Other Liabilities: /7 -37.0 49.0 -20.8 -4.2 1.4 -2.1 1.3 -15.0
27 Private, net -24.0 49.8 -11.6 -5.0 -0.1 -1.6 0.0 -14.7
28 Official, net -13.0 -0.8 -9.2 0.8 1.5 -0.6 1.3 -0.3
   
29 Change in Banks' Own Net Dollar-denominated Liabilities 384.8 -63.8 -5.1 277.6 79.7 83.2 -1.6 99.9
   
30 Monthly Net TIC Flows (lines 21,22,29) /8 482.0 373.2 218.5 485.8 96.2 62.1 2.1 12.7
of which    
31 Private, net 469.5 233.0 185.0 332.9 48.8 52.5 -34.8 42.1
32 Official, net 12.5 140.3 33.5 152.9 47.4 9.6 36.9 -29.4
                           
/1 Net foreign purchases of U.S. securities (+)
/2 Includes international and regional organizations
/3 The reported division of net purchases of long-term securities between net purchases by foreign official institutions and net purchases
of other foreign investors is subject to a "transaction bias" described in Frequently Asked Questions 7 and 10.a.4 on the TIC website.
/4 Net transactions in foreign securities by U.S. residents. Foreign purchases of foreign securities = U.S. sales of foreign securities to foreigners.
Thus negative entries indicate net U.S. purchases of foreign securities, or an outflow of capital from the United States; positive entries
indicate net U.S. sales of foreign securities.
/5 Minus estimated unrecorded principal repayments to foreigners on domestic corporate and agency asset-backed securities +
estimated foreign acquisitions of U.S. equity through stock swaps -
estimated U.S. acquisitions of foreign equity through stock swaps +
increase in nonmarketable Treasury Bonds and Notes Issued to Official Institutions and Other Residents of Foreign Countries.
/6 These are primarily data on monthly changes in banks' and broker/dealers' custody liabilities. Data on custody claims are collected
quarterly and published in the Treasury Bulletin and the TIC website.
/7 "Selected Other Liabilities" are primarily the foreign liabilities of U.S. customers that are managed by U.S. banks or broker/dealers.
/8 TIC data cover most components of international financial flows, but do not include data on direct investment flows, which are collected
and published by the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Economic Analysis. In addition to the monthly data summarized here, the
TIC collects quarterly data on some banking and nonbanking assets and liabilities. Frequently Asked Question 1 on the TIC website
describes the scope of TIC data collection.
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