Press Releases

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

(Archived Content)

WASHINGTON – Preliminary data from an annual survey of U.S. portfolio holdings of foreign securities at year-end 2011 were released today and posted on the Treasury web site at (http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/tic/Pages/fpis.aspx#usclaims). Final survey results, which will include additional detail as well as revisions to the data, will be reported on October 31, 2012.
 
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, 2012, are currently being processed.  Preliminary results are expected to be reported on February 28, 2013.
 
Overall Preliminary Results
 
The survey measured the value of U.S. holdings of foreign securities at year-end 2011 of approximately $6.8 trillion, with $4.5 trillion held in foreign equities, $2.0 trillion held in foreign long-term debt securities (original term-to-maturity in excess of one year), and $0.4 trillion held in foreign short-term debt securities.  The previous such survey, conducted as of year-end 2010, measured the value of U.S. holdings of $6.8 trillion, with $4.6 trillion held in foreign equities, $1.7 trillion held in foreign long-term debt securities, and $0.4 trillion held in foreign short-term debt securities.
 

 

 

 

Table 1.  U.S. holdings of foreign securities, by type of security, as of survey dates[1]
(Billions of dollars)
 
Type of Security
Dec. 31, 2010
Dec. 31, 2011
 
 
 
Long-term Securities
6,362
6,481
                Equity
4,647
4,502
                Long-term debt
1,715
1,979
Short-term debt securities
402
360
 
 
 
Total
6,763
6,841
 
 
U.S. Portfolio Investment by Country
 
Table 2.  U.S. 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, 2011
(Billions of dollars, except as noted)
 
 
Country or region
         Total
        Equity
Long-Term Debt
Short-Term Debt
1
United Kingdom
989
642
285
62
2
Canada
736
359
329
48
3
Cayman Islands
709
488
218
3
4
Japan
509
391
57
60
5
Australia
334
129
142
63
6
France
306
209
88
8
7
Switzerland
292
278
5
9
8
Germany
266
174
82
10
9
Netherlands
242
119
110
13
10
Brazil
196
155
41
*
11
Bermuda
161
135
25
*
12
Ireland
149
114
35
*
13
Korea, South
146
117
28
2
14
Hong Kong
116
112
3
*
15
Sweden
115
54
34
28
16
Mexico
108
59
45
4
17
Luxembourg
93
31
61
1
18
China, Mainland
77
75
2
*
19
Spain
76
53
22
*
20
Taiwan
72
72
*
0
21
South Africa
71
59
12
*
22
Netherlands Antilles
70
66
4
0
23
Norway
63
21
29
12
24
Italy
62
40
21
1
25
Singapore
60
48
10
2
26
India
59
55
3
1
27
Israel
58
37
19
2
 
Rest of world
706
409
267
31
 
Total
6,841
4,502
1,979
360
 
* Greater than zero, but less than $500 million
 
[1]   The stock of foreign securities for December 31, 2011, reported in this survey may not, for a number of reasons, correspond to the stock of foreign securities on December 31, 2010, plus cumulative flows reported in Treasury's transactions reporting system.  The final report on U.S. holdings of foreign securities as of end-year 2011 will contain an analysis of the relationship between the stock and flow data.