DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS 

Embargoed Until 4 p.m. EDT CONTACT: Brookly McLaughlin 

September 30, 2005 (202) 622-1996 

PRELIMINARY ANNUAL REPORT ON U.S. HOLDINGS OF FOREIGN SECURITIES

Preliminary data from an annual survey of U.S. portfolio holdings of foreign securities at yearend 2004 are released today and posted on the U.S. Treasury web site at 

(http://www.treas.gov/tic/fpis.html). Final survey results, which will include additional detail as 

well as revisions to the data, will be reported by December 30, 2005. 

The survey was undertaken jointly by the U.S. 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, 

2005, are currently being processed. Preliminary results are expected to be reported by April 28, 

2006. 

Overall Preliminary Results

The survey measured U.S. holdings at year-end 2004 of approximately $3.8 trillion, with $2.6 

trillion held in foreign equities, $1.0 trillion in foreign long-term debt securities (original termto-maturity in excess of one year), and $233 billion held in foreign short-term debt securities. 

The previous such survey, conducted as of year-end 2003, measured U.S. holdings of 

approximately $3.2 trillion, with $2.1 trillion held in foreign equities, $874 billion in foreign 

long-term debt securities, and $199 billion held in foreign short-term debt securities. 
Table 1. U.S. holdings of foreign securities, by type of security, as of survey dates1

(Billions of dollars, except as noted) 

Type of Security Dec. 31, 2003 Dec. 31, 2004

Long-term Securities 2,954 3,553

 Equity 2,079 2,560

 long-term debt 874 993

Short-term debt securities 199 233

Total 3,152 3,787

U.S. Portfolio Investment by Country

Table 2. U.S. holdings of foreign securities, by country and type of security, for the 

countries attracting the most U.S. investment, as of December 31, 2004 

(Billions of dollars) 

Debt securities:

Total Equities Long-term Short-term

1 United Kingdom 738 456 171 110

2 Japan 384 330 36 17

3 Canada 345 180 152 12

4 France 217 165 42 10

5 Netherlands 202 136 55 11

6 Germany 201 124 68 10

7 Cayman Islands 196 70 114 12

8 Bermuda 164 154 10 1

9 Switzerland 142 138 2 2

10 Australia 103 57 40 6

11 Italy 78 57 17 3

12 Korea, Republic of (South) 74 67 7 * 

13 Spain 69 63 5 1

14 Mexico 66 38 29 *

15 Brazil 63 43 20 *

16 Sweden 62 38 15 10

17 Ireland 55 32 14 9

18 Finland 39 34 4 1

19 Luxembourg 38 8 27 4

20 Hong Kong 37 35 2 *

21 Taiwan 35 35 * *

22 Israel 34 19 15 *

23 Norway 30 18 10 2

24 Netherlands Antilles 30 29 2 *

25 Singapore 29 24 5 *

Rest of world 354 211 131 13 

Total value of investment 3,787 2,560 993 233 

 

 

1

 The stock of foreign securities for December 31, 2004 reported in this survey may not, for a number or reasons, 

correspond to the stock of foreign securities on December 31, 2003, plus cumulative flows reported in Treasury’s 

transactions reporting system. The final report on U.S. holdings of foreign securities as of end-year 2004 will 

contain an analysis of the relation between the stock and flow data. 

* Greater than zero but less than $500 million. 

2