Latest Foreign Holders of US Treasuries report: August 2011

[c1ue]

The good news: a net increase of $88.2 billion in purchases

The bad news: Only 4 nations/categories purchased $137.2 billion in Treasuries, the usual suspects of the UK and Japan, with Caribbean Banking Centers having a large jump but returning to early 2011 levels and Switzerland with also a huge jump.

The worse news: net of 2011, total foreign purchases as of August 2011 are only $136.9 billion. The US deficit in this same period has increased approximately $687 billion.

	Aug	Jul	Month	Jun	May	Apr	Mar	Feb	Jan	2011	Dec	Nov	Oct	Sep	Aug
Country	2011	2011	Change	2011	2011	2011	2011	2011	2011	Change	2010	2010	2010	2010	2010
China, Mainland	1137	1173.5	-$36.5	1165.5	1159.8	1152.5	1144.9	1154.1	1154.7	-$23.1	1160.1	1164.1	1175.3	1151.9	1136.8
Japan	936.6	914.8	$21.8	911	912.4	906.9	907.9	890.3	885.9	$54.3	882.3	875.9	873.6	860.8	832.5
United Kingdom 2/	397.2	353.4	$43.8	347.8	345.1	332.5	324.6	295.7	278.1	$126.8	270.4	242.5	209	190.5	181
Oil Exporters 3/	236.3	234.4	$1.9	229.7	230	221.5	222.3	218.8	215.5	$24.4	211.9	204.3	207.8	215.4	211.7
Brazil	210	210	$0.0	207.1	211.4	206.9	193.5	194.3	197.6	$23.9	186.1	189.8	183	181	170.5
Carib Bnkng Ctrs 4/	161.2	128.7	$32.5	145.5	152.6	139.8	155.2	169.8	166.9	-$7.2	168.4	158.8	146.3	157.8	172.8
Taiwan	150.3	154.3	-$4.0	153.4	153.4	154.5	156.1	155.9	157.2	-$4.8	155.1	154.4	154.5	153.3	153.4
Switzerland	147.5	108.4	$39.1	108	108	106.1	109.7	109.6	107.4	$40.7	106.8	106.8	107.6	110	113
Hong Kong	107.9	111.9	-$4.0	118.4	122	122.4	122.1	124.6	128.1	-$26.3	134.2	134.9	135.2	131.9	133.9
Russia	97.1	100.7	-$3.6	110.7	115.2	125.4	127.8	130.5	139.3	-$53.9	151	167.3	176.3	173.3	173.7
Canada	82.6	83.5	-$0.9	81.4	87.8	85	90.3	90	84.3	$7.3	75.3	75.6	66.1	56.5	44.9
Luxembourg	62	61.4	$0.6	69	68.1	78.4	81.1	81	83	-$24.4	86.4	81.9	78.5	86.1	79
Germany	60.2	61.2	-$1.0	62	61.2	61.3	59.8	58.3	61.1	-$0.3	60.5	58.6	58.2	57.9	56.8
Singapore	58.3	63	-$4.7	61.7	57.5	60.3	55.7	66.7	57.8	-$14.6	72.9	62.2	66.4	56.7	55.4
Thailand	54.5	65.2	-$10.7	62.6	59.8	60.7	57.1	57.6	56.5	$2.5	52	52.2	52.7	50.4	47.3
Turkey	39.2	41.9	-$2.7	41.9	39.3	37.9	36.2	34.3	32.9	$10.3	28.9	29.1	27.8	27.8	29.7
India	37.7	37.9	-$0.2	38.9	41	42.1	39.8	40.3	40.6	-$2.8	40.5	39.7	40.1	40	37.9
Ireland	33.6	34.3	-$0.7	36.1	33.5	40.2	44	42	44.4	-$12.2	45.8	50	48.9	51.5	49.5
Korea, South	32.4	29.4	$3.0	29.9	32.5	30.8	32.5	31.2	31.9	-$3.8	36.2	39.8	39.4	38.7	39.9
Belgium	31.8	31.3	$0.5	33.6	31.4	31.6	32.2	32	32.1	-$1.4	33.2	33.4	33.4	33.8	51.9
France	29	22.5	$6.5	22.4	23.6	20.3	17.7	30.2	30.2	$14.0	15	20.1	23.5	23.3	26.1
Poland	28.7	29.3	-$0.6	28.5	27.9	27.4	28.4	27.3	26.3	$3.2	25.5	27.2	28.8	28.4	26.6
Mexico	28	29.1	-$1.1	29.2	27.7	26.7	28.1	34.6	34.4	-$5.6	33.6	32.6	34.8	36.9	36.2
Philippines	25.1	25.1	$0.0	22.7	23.8	24.1	23.4	22.7	22.8	$5.0	20.1	19.2	18.5	18.5	19.3
Italy	23.7	24.3	-$0.6	23.7	25.4	24.8	24.2	24.3	24.6	$0.0	23.7	23.6	23.7	24.1	23.6
Netherlands	22.6	23.2	-$0.6	23.5	23.7	23.6	25.1	24.9	25.4	-$0.1	22.7	22.1	22	23.1	25.1
Norway	22	17.6	$4.4	20.4	21.1	21.1	21.4	20.8	19.4	$2.4	19.6	19	18	18.1	17.5
Sweden	21.3	21.3	$0.0	21.3	20.9	21.4	21.3	17.7	17	$4.5	16.8	15.2	16.1	15.4	16.8
Colombia	21	20	$1.0	20.1	19.9	19.8	20.2	20.1	19.8	$0.8	20.2	20.3	16.7	16.3	16.5
Chile	19.4	18	$1.4	18.4	18.9	18.6	16.7	16	15	$5.5	13.9	13.4	13.4	13	13
Israel	18.3	17.2	$1.1	18.3	19.1	19.3	18.9	19.8	19.9	-$2.3	20.6	20.5	17.9	17.6	16.3
Malaysia	13.4	13.3	$0.1	12	12.7	12.2	11.2	11.3	11.3	$1.9	11.5	11.7	11.6	11.5	11.7
Australia	11.6	13.1	-$1.5	13.9	12.3	13.1	10.3	12.6	14.7	-$3.3	14.9	14.9	15.7	18	15.5
All Other	214.9	210.9	$4.0	212.1	215.8	218.7	216.3	212.7	215.4	-$4.3	219.2	230.5	232.1	234.8	236
Grand Total	4572.5	4484.3	$88.2	4500.8	4514.8	4487.9	4476.1	4472	4451.4	$136.9	4435.6	4411.4	4373.1	4324.2	4272
Of which:
For. Official	3245	3237.6	$7.4	3239.2	3240.9	3217.8	3182.9	3193	3184	$55.7	3189.3	3212.4	3227.9	3192.7	3142.7
Treasury Bills	409.2	392.3	$16.9	407.7	423.2	421.7	414.9	432.4	438.9	-$53.1	462.3	499.2	531.3	495.4	486.9
T-Bonds & Notes	2835.7	2845.3	-$9.6	2831.4	2817.7	2796.1	2768	2760.6	2745.1	$108.7	2727	2713.2	2696.6	2697.3	2655.9

[aaron]

Re: Latest Foreign Holders of US Treasuries report: August 2011

It seems like we may just be "printing" money at this point to buy treasuries. Banks borrow from the Fed at 0% and buy treasuries yielding 1-4%. Bernanke would like to cut out the middleman (banks), but CONgress says no. So, we are left with the banks making $500 billion a year in arbitrage. It is almost mmt (chartalism) except the principal that needs to be paid back keeps growing.
It does not seem right, but it seems to be sustainable so far.

[FrankL]

Re: Latest Foreign Holders of US Treasuries report: August 2011

The good news: a net increase of $88.2 billion in purchases

The bad news: Only 4 nations/categories purchased $137.2 billion in Treasuries, the usual suspects of the UK and Japan, with Caribbean Banking Centers having a large jump but returning to early 2011 levels and Switzerland with also a huge jump.

The worse news: net of 2011, total foreign purchases as of August 2011 are only $136.9 billion. The US deficit in this same period has increased approximately $687 billion.

I'm curious what the percentage of US trade deficit the total monthly figures in above table are.

[c1ue]

Re: Latest Foreign Holders of US Treasuries report: August 2011

I'm curious what the percentage of US trade deficit the total monthly figures in above table are.

I haven't broken it down, but it isn't too hard to see that - outside of August 2011 - the trade deficit isn't being covered by foreign purchases of Treasuries:

Alternate view:


Eyeballing this shows a YTD trade deficit of $400 billion or so.