Foreigners bought $103 billion of US securities in April

Source Credit : Portfolio Prints

Foreign investors purchased an estimated $103 billion in U.S. long-term securities in April, while increasing their holdings of U.S. Treasury securities by $4 billion, according to the U.S. Treasury Department’s monthly Treasury International Capital (TIC) report released on Thursday.

Among the largest foreign holders of U.S. debt, Japan increased its Treasury holdings to $1.21 trillion in April, up from $1.19 trillion in March. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom raised its holdings to $938 billion from $927 billion, while China’s holdings declined slightly to $651 billion from $652 billion.

As a result, total foreign ownership of U.S. Treasury securities rose to $9.353 trillion, higher than March levels but still below February’s record high of $9.49 trillion.

The report comes at a time when investors are closely monitoring foreign demand for U.S. government debt amid the Federal Reserve’s ongoing fight against inflation and the continued rally in AI-driven technology stocks.

Separately, a U.S. auction of 5-year Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) was well received on Thursday, partly reflecting the recent increase in inflation-adjusted, or “real,” interest rates.

Overall, April recorded a net TIC inflow of $26.1 billion. This consisted of $49.2 billion in net official foreign inflows, which more than offset $23.1 billion in net private foreign outflows.

Foreign investors also expanded their holdings of long-term U.S. securities, recording net purchases of $206 billion during the month. Of this total, private foreign investors accounted for $164.4 billion, while foreign official institutions contributed $41.6 billion in net purchases.