View original document

The full text on this page is automatically extracted from the file linked above and may contain errors and inconsistencies.

3/19/2020

Report on U.S. Portfolio Holdings of Foreign Securities at End-Year 2018 | U.S. Department of the Treasury

Report on U.S. Portfolio Holdings of Foreign Securities at EndYear 2018
October 31, 2019

Washington – The findings from the 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/shcreports.aspx
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 is also conducted
annually. Data from the most recent such survey, which reports on securities held at end-June
2019, are currently being processed. Preliminary results are expected to be reported on
February 28, 2020.

OVERALL RESULTS
This survey measured the value of U.S. portfolio holdings of foreign securities at year-end 2018
as approximately $11.3 trillion, with $7.9 trillion held in foreign equity, $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 U.S. holdings of approximately $12.4 trillion, with $9.1 trillion held in
foreign equity, $2.8 trillion held in foreign long-term debt securities, and $0.5 trillion held in
foreign short-term debt securities. The decrease in 2018 was entirely in equity (see Table 1).
U.S. portfolio holdings of foreign securities by country at the end of 2018 were the largest for the
Cayman Islands ($1.74 trillion), followed by the United Kingdom ($1.36 trillion), Japan ($1.01
trillion), and Canada ($981 billion) (see Table 2). These four countries attracted 45 percent of
total U.S. portfolio investment, versus 43 percent the previous year.
The surveys are part of an internationally coordinated e ort under the auspices of the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) to improve the measurement of portfolio asset holdings.

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm817

1/4

3/19/2020

Report on U.S. Portfolio Holdings of Foreign Securities at End-Year 2018 | U.S. Department of the Treasury

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, 2017

Dec. 31, 2018

Long-term Securities

11,953

10,795

Equity

9,118

7,900

Long-term debt

2,835

2,895

Short-term debt securities

456

502

Total

12,409

11,297

U.S. PORTFOLIO INVESTMENT BY COUNTRY
Table 2. Market value of U.S. portfolio holdings of foreign securities, by
country and type of security, for countries attracting the most U.S.
investment, as of December 31, 2018 [1]
(Billions of dollars)
Debt
Country or category
Total

Equity
Total

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm817

Long-term

Short-term
2/4

3/19/2020

Report on U.S. Portfolio Holdings of Foreign Securities at End-Year 2018 | U.S. Department of the Treasury

Cayman Islands

1,742

1,287

455

449

6

United Kingdom

1,360

927

433

376

57

Japan

1,010

760

250

149

101

Canada

981

468

514

388

126

France

563

383

180

149

31

Ireland

503

421

81

72

9

Switzerland

458

428

30

27

3

Netherlands

456

270

186

181

5

Germany

402

306

96

77

19

Australia

333

174

158

113

45

Bermuda

236

200

36

36

Korea, South

213

191

22

21

India

176

164

12

12

Hong Kong

171

160

11

7

4

Brazil

169

139

30

29

1

China, mainland [2] 159

152

8

5

3

Taiwan

158

158

-

Mexico

146

61

85

83

2

Sweden

144

90

54

36

18

Luxembourg

139

72

67

63

4

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm817

*

*
1
*

*

3/4

3/19/2020

Rest of world
Total
*

Report on U.S. Portfolio Holdings of Foreign Securities at End-Year 2018 | U.S. Department of the Treasury

1,778

1,089

689

622

67

11,297

7,900

3,397

2,895

502

Greater than zero but less than $500 million.

Items may not sum to totals due to rounding.
[1] The stock of foreign securities for December 31, 2018, reported in this survey may not, for a
number of reasons, correspond to the stock of foreign securities on December 31, 2017, plus
cumulative flows reported in Treasury’s transactions reporting system. An analysis of the
relationship between the stock and flow data is available in Table 4 and the associated text of
the “Report on U.S. Portfolio Holdings of Foreign Securities at end-year 2018.”
[2] China, Hong Kong, and Macau are all reported separately.

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm817

4/4