U.S. Department of the Treasury

Office of Public Affairs

Press Release: Embargoed for 4 p.m. EST, February 15, 2019

Contact: Treasury Public Affairs, (202) 622-2960

Treasury International Capital Data for December 

Washington – The U.S. Department of the Treasury today released Treasury International 

Capital (TIC) data for December 2018. The next release, which will report on data for January 

2019, is scheduled for March 15, 2019.

The sum total in December of all net foreign acquisitions of long-term securities, short-term U.S. 

securities, and banking flows was a net TIC outflow of $33.1 billion. Of this, net foreign private 

outflows were $2.3 billion, and net foreign official outflows were $30.7 billion.

Foreign residents decreased their holdings of long-term U.S. securities in December; net sales

were $91.4 billion. Net sales by private foreign investors were $68.7 billion, while net sales by

foreign official institutions were $22.7 billion.

U.S. residents decreased their holdings of long-term foreign securities, with net sales of $43.1

billion.

Taking into account transactions in both foreign and U.S. securities, net foreign sales of longterm securities were $48.3 billion. After including adjustments, such as estimates of unrecorded 

principal payments to foreigners on U.S. asset-backed securities, overall net foreign sales of 

long-term securities are estimated to have been $66.6 billion in December.

Foreign residents increased their holdings of U.S. Treasury bills by $2.1 billion. Foreign resident

holdings of all dollar-denominated short-term U.S. securities and other custody liabilities 

increased by $103.2 billion.

Banks’ own net dollar-denominated liabilities to foreign residents decreased by $69.6 billion.

Complete data are available on the Treasury website at:
www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/tic/Pages/index.aspx

Improved Reporting of Certain Short-Term Liabilities

In today’s release table, line 26 (“Other [Short-Term] Negotiable Securities and Selected Other 

Liabilities”) shows a jump in December 2018. The main reason for the jump, as with a previous 

jump in June 2018 reported in the August 2018 press release, is improved reporting of 

collateralized loan obligations (CLOs). Accordingly, data for line 26 and for its components 

lines 27 and 28 before December 2018 are not comparable to data going forward.

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.
12 Months Through

2016 2017 Dec-17 Dec-18 Sep Oct Nov Dec

Foreigners' Acquisitions of Long-term Securities

1 Gross Purchases of Domestic U.S. Securities 29632.6 31501.6 31501.6 36563.3 2682.9 3707.1 3296.5 3103.0

2 Gross Sales of Domestic U.S. Securities 29574.6 31096.2 31096.2 36409.0 2675.4 3713.6 3300.1 3194.4

3 Domestic Securities Purchased, net (line 1 less line 2) /1 58.0 405.4 405.4 154.3 7.5 -6.5 -3.5 -91.4

4 Private, net /2 348.7 510.6 510.6 254.8 21.0 29.7 25.1 -68.7

5 Treasury Bonds & Notes, net 5.7 169.3 169.3 181.0 4.1 44.4 20.1 -52.6

6 Gov't Agency Bonds, net 225.1 93.0 93.0 140.1 19.6 6.9 14.3 13.0

7 Corporate Bonds, net 130.0 129.8 129.8 56.2 6.4 4.4 -4.4 -10.0

8 Equities, net -12.2 118.4 118.4 -122.5 -9.0 -26.0 -4.9 -19.0

9 Official, net /3 -290.7 -105.1 -105.1 -100.5 -13.6 -36.2 -28.6 -22.7

10 Treasury Bonds & Notes, net -331.5 -149.4 -149.4 -179.4 -15.7 -42.6 -33.3 -24.7

11 Gov't Agency Bonds, net 40.8 42.0 42.0 89.9 10.3 4.7 5.2 2.0

12 Corporate Bonds, net -5.3 1.7 1.7 -4.1 -0.3 -2.0 0.2 -0.8

13 Equities, net 5.4 0.5 0.5 -7.0 -7.9 3.8 -0.7 0.8

14 Gross Purchases of Foreign Securities from U.S. Residents 10124.4 13710.7 13710.7 17126.2 1348.3 1588.7 1550.1 1239.9

15 Gross Sales of Foreign Securities to U.S. Residents 9921.3 13583.8 13583.8 16757.7 1325.0 1550.3 1514.6 1196.8

16 Foreign Securities Purchased, net (line 14 less line 15) /4 203.1 127.0 127.0 368.5 23.4 38.4 35.6 43.1

17 Foreign Bonds Purchased, net 258.7 233.2 233.2 324.6 23.2 32.6 26.3 31.1

18 Foreign Equities Purchased, net -55.7 -106.3 -106.3 44.0 0.2 5.9 9.3 12.0

19 Net Long-term Securities Transactions (line 3 plus line 16): 261.0 532.4 532.4 522.8 30.8 31.9 32.0 -48.3

20 Other Acquisitions of Long-term Securities, net /5 -311.7 -224.9 -224.9 -117.7 -14.0 -49.5 -12.9 -18.3

21 Net Foreign Acquisition of Long-term Securities

(lines 19 and 20): -50.7 307.5 307.5 405.1 16.8 -17.6 19.1 -66.6

22 Increase in Foreign Holdings of Dollar-denominated Short-term

U.S. Securities and Other Custody Liabilities: /6 12.8 152.5 152.5 457.3 -15.5 14.1 31.4 103.2

23 U.S. Treasury Bills -55.9 34.3 34.3 42.6 -36.0 8.3 19.8 2.1

24 Private, net -16.9 14.7 14.7 49.5 -23.4 18.3 14.7 3.5

25 Official, net -39.0 19.5 19.5 -6.8 -12.6 -10.0 5.2 -1.4

26 Other Negotiable Instruments

and Selected Other Liabilities: /7 68.7 118.2 118.2 414.7 20.5 5.8 11.5 101.1

27 Private, net 67.4 117.3 117.3 418.7 24.1 6.0 12.0 103.4

28 Official, net 1.3 0.9 0.9 -3.9 -3.6 -0.2 -0.4 -2.3

29 Change in Banks' Own Net Dollar-denominated Liabilities -110.2 80.2 80.2 -117.5 -30.8 44.0 -18.3 -69.6

30 Monthly Net TIC Flows (lines 21,22,29) /8 -148.1 540.2 540.2 745.0 -29.6 40.5 32.1 -33.1

of which

31 Private, net 220.1 721.2 721.2 899.9 23.1 82.2 51.7 -2.3

32 Official, net -368.2 -181.0 -181.0 -154.9 -52.7 -41.7 -19.6 -30.7

/ 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.

TIC Monthly Reports on Cross-Border Financial Flows

(Billions of dollars, not seasonally adjusted)