Report On U.S. Portfolio Holdings Of Foreign Securities At End-Year 2010

The findings from an annual survey of U.S. portfolio holdings of foreign securities at year-end 2010 were released today and posted on the Treasury web site at link.

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, 2011, are currently being processed. Preliminary results are expected to be reported on February 29, 2012.

Overall Results

This survey measured the value of U.S. portfolio holdings of foreign securities at year-end 2010 of approximately $6.8 trillion, with $4.6 trillion held in foreign equity, $1.7 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 2009, measured U.S. holdings of approximately $6.0 trillion, with $4.0 trillion held in foreign equity, $1.6 trillion held in foreign long-term debt securities and $0.4 trillion held in foreign short-term debt securities. The increase in the value of U.S. portfolio holdings between the two surveys primarily reflects valuation changes in foreign equity during 2010.

U.S. portfolio holdings of foreign securities by country at the end of 2010 were the largest for the United Kingdom ($1,001 billion), followed by Canada ($695 billion), and Japan ($519 billion) (see Table 2). These three countries attracted about one-third of the total U.S. portfolio investment.

The surveys are part of an internationally-coordinated effort under the auspices of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to improve the measurement of portfolio asset holdings.

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, 2009	Dec. 31, 2010

Long-term Securities	5,589	6,362
Equity	3,995	4,647
Long-term debt	1,594	1,715
Short-term debt securities	387	402

Total	5,977	6,763

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, 2010

(Billions of dollars, except as noted)

	Country or region	Total	Equity	Long-Term Debt	Short-Term Debt
1	United Kingdom	1,001	626	253	123
2	Canada	695	409	253	34
3	Japan	519	450	47	22
4	France	366	244	82	40
5	Cayman Islands	366	166	196	3
6	Switzerland	327	319	6	2
7	Australia	323	150	123	51
8	Germany	299	207	74	18
9	Brazil	235	194	41	1
10	Netherlands	233	120	103	9
11	Bermuda	160	134	25	*
12	Korea, South	148	122	25	1
13	Hong Kong	135	133	2	*
14	Ireland	132	101	27	3
15	Sweden	122	63	30	29
16	Mexico	109	77	32	*
17	China, Mainland	102	101	2	*
18	Luxembourg	100	33	65	3
19	Taiwan	95	94	*	0
20	India	91	86	4	1
21	Spain	87	66	21	*
22	Netherlands Antilles	83	82	1	0
23	South Africa	78	70	8	0
24	Italy	66	51	14	*
25	Singapore	64	56	7	*
26	Israel	64	45	17	2
	Rest of world	762	446	257	59
	Total	6,763	4,647	1,715	402

[1] The stock of foreign securities for December 31, 2010, reported in this survey may not, for a number of reasons, correspond to the stock of foreign securities on December 31, 2009, 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 2010.