The U.S. Department of the Treasury today released Treasury International Capital (TIC) data for March 2016. The next release, which will report on data for April 2016, is scheduled for June 15, 2016.
The sum total in March of all net foreign acquisitions of long-term securities, short-term U.S. securities, and banking flows was a monthly net TIC outflow of $98.3 billion. Of this, net foreign private outflows were $51.5 billion, and net foreign official outflows were $46.9 billion.
Foreign residents increased their holdings of long-term U.S. securities in March; net purchases were $64.7 billion. Net purchases by private foreign investors were $83.0 billion, while net sales by foreign official institutions were $18.3 billion.
U.S. residents decreased their holdings of long-term foreign securities, with net sales of $13.4 billion.
Taking into account transactions in both foreign and U.S. securities, net foreign purchases of long-term securities were $78.1 billion. After including adjustments, such as estimates of unrecorded principal payments to foreigners on U.S. asset-backed securities, overall net foreign purchases of long-term securities are estimated to have been $64.6 billion in March.
Foreign residents increased their holdings of U.S. Treasury bills by $9.0 billion. Foreign resident holdings of all dollar-denominated short-term U.S. securities and other custody liabilities increased by $1.8 billion.
Banks’ own net dollar-denominated liabilities to foreign residents decreased by $164.7 billion.
Complete data are available on the Treasury website at:
Announcement of Changes to Certain Aggregates
Today, TIC begins replacing several aggregates with country data. This release makes these changes to monthly data on foreign holdings of Treasury securities. Asian Oil Exporters (also called Middle East Oil Exporters) will become individual country data on Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. African Oil Exporters will become country data on Algeria, Gabon, Libya, and Nigeria.
In the table of Major Foreign Holders of Treasury Securities, Oil Exporters will become country data on the Asian and African oil exporters, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Indonesia. Caribbean Banking Centers will become country data on the Bahamas, Bermuda, Bonaire-Saint Eustatius-Saba, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Curaçao, Panama, and Sint Maarten. The United Kingdom will no longer include Guernsey, Jersey, and the Isle of Man, which will all be shown separately. Countries that do not appear in the Major Foreign Holders table may be found in the file on U.S. Treasury Securities Held by Foreign Residents.
The annual Report on Foreign Holdings of U.S. Securities at end-June 2015, to be released on May 31, will extend these changes to annual data on holdings of other types of securities.
About TIC Data
The monthly data on holdings of long-term securities, as well as the monthly table on Major Foreign Holders of Treasury Securities, reflect foreign holdings of U.S. securities collected primarily on the basis of custodial data. These data help provide a window into foreign ownership of U.S. securities, but they cannot attribute holdings of U.S. securities with complete accuracy. For example, if a U.S. Treasury security purchased by a foreign resident is held in a custodial account in a third country, the true ownership of the security will not be reflected in the data. The custodial data will also not properly attribute U.S. Treasury securities managed by foreign private portfolio managers who invest on behalf of residents of other countries. In addition, foreign countries may hold dollars and other U.S. assets that are not captured in the TIC data. For these reasons, it is difficult to draw precise conclusions from TIC data about changes in the foreign holdings of U.S. financial assets by individual countries.
| TIC Monthly Reports on Cross-Border Financial Flows | |||||||||||||
| (Billions of dollars, not seasonally adjusted) | |||||||||||||
| 12 Months Through | |||||||||||||
| 2014 | 2015 | Mar-15 | Mar-16 | Dec | Jan | Feb | Mar | ||||||
| Foreigners' Acquisitions of Long-term Securities | |||||||||||||
| 1 | Gross Purchases of Domestic U.S. Securities | 27867.8 | 29904.8 | 28422.0 | 29815.6 | 2188.1 | 2317.3 | 2729.0 | 2537.8 | ||||
| 2 | Gross Sales of Domestic U.S. Securities | 27618.5 | 29749.2 | 28256.3 | 29599.1 | 2231.5 | 2350.7 | 2700.1 | 2473.1 | ||||
| 3 | Domestic Securities Purchased, net (line 1 less line 2) /1 | 249.3 | 155.6 | 165.7 | 216.5 | -43.4 | -33.4 | 28.9 | 64.7 | ||||
| 4 | Private, net /2 | 171.0 | 368.0 | 135.9 | 503.6 | 8.0 | 22.9 | 69.1 | 83.0 | ||||
| 5 | Treasury Bonds & Notes, net | 120.6 | 205.6 | 11.0 | 317.4 | 12.2 | 6.8 | 58.2 | 41.0 | ||||
| 6 | Gov't Agency Bonds, net | 43.2 | 123.2 | 82.6 | 141.6 | 0.7 | 4.6 | 11.1 | 30.1 | ||||
| 7 | Corporate Bonds, net | 18.4 | 137.9 | 45.2 | 155.6 | 4.5 | 5.7 | 12.1 | 25.7 | ||||
| 8 | Equities, net | -11.2 | -98.7 | -3.0 | -111.1 | -9.5 | 5.8 | -12.4 | -13.9 | ||||
| 9 | Official, net /3 | 78.3 | -212.4 | 29.9 | -287.1 | -51.3 | -56.3 | -40.2 | -18.3 | ||||
| 10 | Treasury Bonds & Notes, net | 44.9 | -225.9 | -14.3 | -301.5 | -48.1 | -57.2 | -48.3 | -17.4 | ||||
| 11 | Gov't Agency Bonds, net | 31.4 | 33.5 | 37.8 | 36.8 | 1.0 | 1.8 | 7.4 | 2.2 | ||||
| 12 | Corporate Bonds, net | 7.0 | -3.8 | 7.1 | -5.0 | 0.1 | 0.4 | -0.5 | -0.5 | ||||
| 13 | Equities, net | -4.9 | -16.2 | -0.7 | -17.4 | -4.3 | -1.2 | 1.2 | -2.6 | ||||
| 14 | Gross Purchases of Foreign Securities from U.S. Residents | 9145.0 | 10726.6 | 9464.6 | 10606.1 | 746.2 | 756.2 | 799.9 | 922.2 | ||||
| 15 | Gross Sales of Foreign Securities to U.S. Residents | 9119.0 | 10564.9 | 9389.8 | 10380.1 | 732.2 | 734.7 | 756.2 | 908.8 | ||||
| 16 | Foreign Securities Purchased, net (line 14 less line 15) /4 | 25.9 | 161.7 | 74.8 | 226.0 | 14.0 | 21.5 | 43.7 | 13.4 | ||||
| 17 | Foreign Bonds Purchased, net | 131.7 | 276.1 | 143.1 | 326.0 | 19.1 | 28.1 | 45.2 | 23.7 | ||||
| 18 | Foreign Equities Purchased, net | -105.7 | -114.4 | -68.3 | -100.0 | -5.1 | -6.6 | -1.5 | -10.4 | ||||
| 19 | Net Long-term Securities Transactions (line 3 plus line 16): | 275.3 | 317.3 | 240.6 | 442.5 | -29.4 | -11.9 | 72.6 | 78.1 | ||||
| 20 | Other Acquisitions of Long-term Securities, net /5 | -84.0 | -285.4 | -268.5 | -189.5 | -12.2 | -30.8 | -11.1 | -13.5 | ||||
| 21 | Net Foreign Acquisition of Long-term Securities | ||||||||||||
| (lines 19 and 20): | 191.2 | 31.9 | -27.9 | 253.0 | -41.6 | -42.7 | 61.5 | 64.6 | |||||
| 22 | Increase in Foreign Holdings of Dollar-denominated Short-term | ||||||||||||
| U.S. Securities and Other Custody Liabilities: /6 | 7.1 | 70.7 | 41.5 | 17.1 | 56.7 | -2.4 | -6.3 | 1.8 | |||||
| 23 | U.S. Treasury Bills | -13.9 | 53.1 | 13.0 | 22.6 | 54.1 | -5.6 | -3.2 | 9.0 | ||||
| 24 | Private, net | 49.2 | 51.7 | 32.3 | 84.1 | 43.8 | 1.5 | 7.5 | 24.9 | ||||
| 25 | Official, net | -63.1 | 1.4 | -19.3 | -61.4 | 10.3 | -7.0 | -10.7 | -15.9 | ||||
| 26 | Other Negotiable Instruments | ||||||||||||
| and Selected Other Liabilities: /7 | 21.0 | 17.7 | 28.6 | -5.5 | 2.6 | 3.2 | -3.1 | -7.2 | |||||
| 27 | Private, net | 7.9 | 20.3 | 13.7 | 4.4 | 2.4 | 4.7 | -4.0 | -4.5 | ||||
| 28 | Official, net | 13.1 | -2.6 | 14.9 | -10.0 | 0.2 | -1.5 | 1.0 | -2.7 | ||||
| 29 | Change in Banks' Own Net Dollar-denominated Liabilities | 51.4 | -176.0 | -8.6 | -202.8 | -116.4 | 161.4 | -23.5 | -164.7 | ||||
| 30 | Monthly Net TIC Flows (lines 21,22,29) /8 | 249.8 | -73.4 | 5.0 | 67.3 | -101.3 | 116.3 | 31.7 | -98.3 | ||||
| of which | |||||||||||||
| 31 | Private, net | 273.4 | 111.0 | -22.6 | 411.9 | -74.6 | 171.1 | 61.0 | -51.5 | ||||
| 32 | Official, net | -23.6 | -184.4 | 27.6 | -344.6 | -26.7 | -54.8 | -29.3 | -46.9 | ||||
| /1 | Net foreign purchases of U.S. securities (+) | ||||||||||||
| /2 | Includes international and regional organizations | ||||||||||||
| /3 | The reported division of net purchases of long-term securities between net purchases by foreign official institutions and net purchases | ||||||||||||
| of other foreign investors is subject to a "transaction bias" described in Frequently Asked Questions 7 and 10.a.4 on the TIC website. | |||||||||||||
| /4 | Net transactions in foreign securities by U.S. residents. Foreign purchases of foreign securities = U.S. sales of foreign securities to foreigners. | ||||||||||||
| Thus negative entries indicate net U.S. purchases of foreign securities, or an outflow of capital from the United States; positive entries | |||||||||||||
| indicate net U.S. sales of foreign securities. | |||||||||||||
| /5 | Minus estimated unrecorded principal repayments to foreigners on domestic corporate and agency asset-backed securities + | ||||||||||||
| estimated foreign acquisitions of U.S. equity through stock swaps - | |||||||||||||
| estimated U.S. acquisitions of foreign equity through stock swaps + | |||||||||||||
| increase in nonmarketable Treasury Bonds and Notes Issued to Official Institutions and Other Residents of Foreign Countries. | |||||||||||||
| /6 | These are primarily data on monthly changes in banks' and broker/dealers' custody liabilities. Data on custody claims are collected | ||||||||||||
| quarterly and published in the TIC website. | |||||||||||||
| /7 | "Selected Other Liabilities" are primarily the foreign liabilities of U.S. customers that are managed by U.S. banks or broker/dealers. | ||||||||||||
| /8 | TIC data cover most components of international financial flows, but do not include data on direct investment flows, which are collected | ||||||||||||
| and published by the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Economic Analysis. In addition to the monthly data summarized here, the | |||||||||||||
| TIC collects quarterly data on some banking and nonbanking assets and liabilities. Frequently Asked Question 1 on the TIC website | |||||||||||||
| describes the scope of TIC data collection. | |||||||||||||
