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Report On U.S. Holdings of Foreign Securities At End-Year 2004

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The findings from an annual survey of U.S. portfolio holdings of foreign securities at year-end 2004 are released today and posted on the U.S. Treasury web site at ( http://www.treas.gov/tic/fpis.html).

The survey was undertaken jointly by the U.S. Treasury, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.  The previous survey was for year-end 2003.  Future surveys are scheduled to be carried out annually.  The next report will present results from the survey for year-end 2005. 

A complementary survey measuring foreign holdings of U.S. securities is also carried out annually.  Data from the most recent such survey, which reports on securities held on June 30, 2005, are currently being processed.  Preliminary results are expected to be reported by April 30, 2006.

Overall Results

The survey measured U.S. holdings of foreign securities at year-end 2004 of approximately $3,787 billion, with $2,560 billion held in foreign equities, $993 billion in foreign long-term debt securities (original term-to-maturity in excess of one year), and $233 billion in foreign short-term debt securities.  The previous survey, conducted as of year-end 2003, measured U.S. holdings of approximately $3,152 billion, with $2,079 billion held in foreign equities, $874 billion in foreign long-term debt securities, and $199 billion in foreign short-term debt securities (see Table 1).

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.  U.S. holdings of foreign securities, by type of security, at end-2003 and end-2004     (Billions of dollars, except as noted)

Type of Security

Dec. 31, 2003

Dec. 31, 2004

 

 

 

Long-term Securities

 2,954

3,553

                equity

2,079

2,560

                long-term debt

874

993

Short-term debt securities

199

233

 

 

 

Total

3,152

3,787

 

U.S. Portfolio Investment by Country

Table 2.  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, 2004
(Billions of dollars)

 

 

 

 

 

Debt securities:

 

 

Total

Equities

 

Long-term

 

Short-term

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1

United Kingdom

738

456

 

171

 

110

2

Japan

384

330

 

36

 

17

3

Canada

345

180

 

152

 

12

4

France

217

165

 

42

 

10

5

Netherlands

202

136

 

55

 

11

6

Germany

201

124

 

68

 

10

7

Cayman Islands

196

70

 

114

 

12

8

Bermuda

164

154

 

10

 

1

9

Switzerland

142

138

 

2

 

2

10

Australia

103

57

 

40

 

6

11

Italy

78

57

 

17

 

3

12

South Korea

74

67

 

7

 

*

13

Spain

69

63

 

5

 

1

14

Mexico

66

38

 

29

 

*

15

Brazil

63

43

 

20

 

*

16

Sweden

62

38

 

15

 

10

17

Ireland

55

32

 

14

 

9

18

Finland

39

34

 

4

 

1

19

Luxembourg

38

8

 

27

 

4

20

Hong Kong, S.A.R

37

35

 

2

 

*

21

Taiwan

35

35

 

*

 

*

22

Israel

34

19

 

15

 

*

23

Norway

30

18

 

10

 

2

24

Netherlands Antilles

30

29

 

2

 

*

25

Singapore

29

24

 

5

 

*

 

Rest of world

354

211

 

131

 

13

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total value of investment

3,787

2,560

 

993

 

233

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

The stock of foreign securities for December 31, 2004, reported in this survey does not, for a number or reasons, correspond to the stock of foreign securities on December 31, 2003, 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 5 and the associated text of the final report on U.S. holdings of foreign securities at end-year 2004.
 
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