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Preliminary Report On Foreign Holdings Of U.S. Securities At End-June 2017

WASHINGTON - Preliminary data from the June 2017 benchmark survey of foreign portfolio holdings of U.S. securities were released today on the Treasury website. Final survey results, which will include additional detail as well as possible revisions to the preliminary data, will be reported on April 30, 2018.  The survey was undertaken jointly by Treasury, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.  The next annual survey will cover holdings at the end of June 2018; preliminary data are expected to be released by February 28, 2019.

Complementary surveys measuring U.S. holdings of foreign securities are also carried out annually.  Data from the most recent survey, reporting on securities held at year-end 2017, are currently being processed.  Preliminary results are expected to be reported by August 31, 2018.

Overall Preliminary Results
The survey measured the value of foreign holdings of U.S. securities as of June 30, 2017, to be $18,436 billion, with $7,188 billion held in U.S. equities, $10,294 billion held in U.S. long-term debt securities [1] (of which $1,263 billion are holdings of asset-backed securities (ABS) [2] and $9,031 billion are holdings of non-ABS securities), and $954 billion held in U.S. short-term debt securities.  The previous survey, conducted as of June 30, 2016, measured the value of total foreign holdings of U.S. securities at $17,139 billion, with holdings of $6,186 billion in U.S. equities, $10,044 billion in U.S. long-term debt securities, and $909 billion in U.S. short-term debt securities (see Table A).

 

[1].  Long-term debt securities have an original term-to-maturity of over one year.
[2].  Asset-backed securities are backed by pools of assets, such as pools of residential home mortgages or credit card receivables, which give the security owners claims against the cash flows generated by the underlying assets.  Unlike most other debt securities, these securities generally repay both principal and interest on a regular basis, reducing the principal outstanding with each payment cycle.

Table A.  Foreign holdings of U.S. securities, by type of security, as of recent survey dates
(Billions of dollars)


Type of security

June 30, 2016

June 30, 2017

Long-term securities

16,230

 

17,482

 

  Equities

 

6,186

 

7,188

  Long-term debt

 

10,044

 

10,294

    Asset-backed

 

1,187

 

1,263

    Other

 

8,857

 

9,031

Short-term debt securities

909

 

954

 

Total

17,139

 

18,436

 

Of which: Official

5,504

 

5,579

 

 

Table B.  Foreign holdings of U.S. securities, by country and type of security,
for the major investing countries into the U.S., as of June 30, 2017
(Billions of dollars)

   

Total

Equities

Long-term debt

Short

       

ABS

Other

-term

1

Japan

1,999

490

235

1,215

58

2

Cayman Islands

1,688

927

128

529

103

3

United Kingdom

1,562

844

31

644

43

4

China, mainland [i]

1,541

194

180

1,163

3

5

Luxembourg

1,401

531

68

703

98

6

Ireland

1,077

296

78

563

141

7

Canada

1,065

810

29

213

14

8

Switzerland

825

413

22

356

34

9

Belgium

618

38

16

548

15

10

Taiwan

564

56

228

277

4

11

Germany

427

208

27

187

5

12

Netherlands

398

254

15

114

15

13

Hong Kong

350

96

10

181

64

14

Singapore

349

167

10

154

17

15

Norway

340

239

*

100

1

16

Bermuda

318

95

45

154

24

17

France

292

154

9

113

16

18

Korea, South

282

102

36

134

11

19

Brazil

277

5

*

253

18

20

Australia

272

193

6

64

9

21

Kuwait

233

160

5

44

24

22

Saudi Arabia

202

46

6

108

42

23

Sweden

180

130

1

49

*

24

British Virgin Islands

166

112

2

41

11

25

United Arab Emirates

147

80

1

57

9

             
 

Rest of world

1,863

549

73

1,065

175

 

Total

18,436

7,188

1,263

9,031

954

 

of which: Foreign official institutions

5,579

952

397

3,863

366

 

*  Less than $500 million but more than zero.
[i].  Excludes Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, which are reported separately.

Preliminary Report On Foreign Holdings Of U.S. Securities At End-June 2017