Press Releases

Preliminary Annual Report on U.S. Holdings of Foreign Securities

Washington – Preliminary data from an annual survey of U.S. portfolio holdings of foreign securities at year-end 2018 were released today and posted on the Treasury web site at (https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/tic/Pages/fpis.aspx). The final survey report, which will include additional detail as well as possible revisions to the data, will be released on October 31, 2019.

The survey was undertaken jointly by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. 

A complementary survey measuring foreign holdings of U.S. securities also is conducted annually.  Data from the most recent such survey, which reports on securities held on June 30, 2019, are currently being processed.  Preliminary results are expected to be reported on February 28, 2020.

Overall Preliminary Results

The survey measured the value of U.S. holdings of foreign securities at year-end 2018 at approximately $11.3 trillion, with $7.9 trillion held in foreign equities, $2.9 trillion held in foreign long-term debt securities (original term-to-maturity in excess of one year), and $0.5 trillion held in foreign short-term debt securities.  The previous such survey, conducted as of year-end 2017, measured the value of U.S. holdings at $12.4 trillion, with $9.1 trillion held in foreign equities, $2.8 trillion held in foreign long-term debt securities, and $0.5 trillion held in foreign short-term debt securities.

 

 

Table 1.  U.S. portfolio holdings of foreign securities, by type of security, as of survey dates
(Billions of dollars)

 

 

Type of Security

Dec. 31, 2017

Dec. 31, 2018

Long-term securities

11,953

10,777

      Equity

9,118

7,892

      Long-term debt

2,835

2,886

Short-term debt securities

    456

    503

Total

12,409

11,280

 

Table 2.  U.S. portfolio holdings of foreign securities, by country of issuer and type of security, for the countries attracting the most U.S. portfolio investment, as of December 31, 2018
(Market value, billions of dollars, except as noted)

   

Total

Equity

Long-Term  Debt

Short-Term Debt

1

Cayman Islands

1,742

1,292

443

6

2

United Kingdom

1,345

906

381

57

3

Japan

1,011

761

149

100

4

Canada

981

473

382

126

5

France

563

383

149

31

6

Ireland

503

421

72

9

7

Switzerland

458

428

27

3

8

Netherlands

456

270

180

6

9

Germany

402

306

77

19

10

Australia

335

174

115

45

11

Bermuda

236

200

36

*

12

Korea, South

210

191

18

1

13

India

176

164

12

*

14

Hong Kong

171

160

6

4

15

Brazil

169

139

29

1

16

China, mainland (1)

159

152

5

3

17

Taiwan

158

158

*

*

18

Mexico

146

61

83

2

19

Sweden

144

90

36

18

20

Luxembourg

139

72

63

4

21

Spain

137

104

29

3

22

Italy

115

77

37

*

23

Jersey

101

86

14

1

24

South Africa

91

77

14

*

25

Singapore

89

54

12

23

26

International organizations

86

1

76

10

27

Denmark

84

72

10

1

28

Indonesia

67

35

32

*

29

Israel

65

47

18

*

30

British Virgin Islands

65

48

17

*

 

Rest of world

878

488

362

27

 

Total

11,280

7,892

2,886

503

* Greater than zero, but less than $500 million. (1) China excludes Hong Kong and Macau, which are reported separately.