U.S. TREASURY DEPARTMENT 

OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

EMBARGOED FOR 9:00 AM EST: February 15, 2013

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 2012. The next release, which will report on data for January 2013, is 

scheduled for March 15, 2013.

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

securities, and banking flows was a monthly net TIC inflow of $25.2 billion. Of this, net foreign private 

inflows were $26.1 billion, and net foreign official inflows were negative $0.9 billion.

Foreign residents increased their holdings of long-term U.S. securities in December – net purchases

were $76.5 billion. Net purchases by private foreign investors were $67.3 billion, and net purchases by 

foreign official institutions were $9.1 billion.

At the same time, U.S. residents increased their holdings of long-term foreign securities, with net 

purchases of $12.3 billion.

Taking into account transactions in both foreign and U.S. securities, the net foreign purchases of longterm securities were $64.2 billion. After including adjustments, such as estimates of unrecorded 

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

long-term securities is estimated to have been $43.2 billion in December.

Foreign residents decreased their holdings of U.S. Treasury bills by $11.9 billion. Foreign resident

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

$5.6 billion.

Banks’ own net dollar-denominated liabilities to foreign residents decreased by $12.5 billion.

Complete data are available on the Treasury website at:

www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/tic/Pages/index.aspx
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

2010 2011 Dec-11 Dec-12 Sep Oct Nov Dec

Foreigners' Acquisitions of Long-term Securities

1 Gross Purchases of Domestic U.S. Securities 25017.0 27818.8 27818.8 24279.6 1958.2 2056.2 1784.8 1756.3

2 Gross Sales of Domestic U.S. Securities 24108.7 27325.5 27325.5 23731.9 1940.4 2030.8 1723.3 1679.8

3 Domestic Securities Purchased, net (line 1 less line 2) /1 908.3 493.4 493.4 547.7 17.8 25.4 61.5 76.5

4 Private, net /2 776.1 322.6 322.6 334.7 3.7 19.2 60.9 67.3

5 Treasury Bonds & Notes, net 531.6 288.4 288.4 182.0 -18.3 3.8 29.1 21.5

6 Gov't Agency Bonds, net 146.2 57.6 57.6 93.0 8.0 12.3 1.6 18.9

7 Corporate Bonds, net -14.0 -44.0 -44.0 -34.0 -9.3 3.0 8.6 1.6

8 Equities, net 112.3 20.6 20.6 93.7 23.3 0.1 21.7 25.3

9 Official, net /3 132.2 170.7 170.7 213.0 14.1 6.2 0.5 9.1

10 Treasury Bonds & Notes, net 172.1 144.2 144.2 199.8 0.9 8.2 -2.7 8.4

11 Gov't Agency Bonds, net -38.2 23.3 23.3 -2.9 9.9 -4.1 1.1 -0.8

12 Corporate Bonds, net 0.8 -1.2 -1.2 7.9 2.9 0.8 2.3 0.9

13 Equities, net -2.5 4.5 4.5 8.3 0.4 1.2 -0.2 0.6

14 Gross Purchases of Foreign Securities from U.S. Residents 7323.8 7499.3 7499.3 7221.2 609.1 653.3 613.8 577.2

15 Gross Sales of Foreign Securities to U.S. Residents 7439.1 7623.6 7623.6 7249.1 623.7 679.7 622.9 589.5

16 Foreign Securities Purchased, net (line 14 less line 15) /4 -115.3 -124.3 -124.3 -27.9 -14.6 -26.4 -9.1 -12.3

17 Foreign Bonds Purchased, net -54.6 -52.6 -52.6 12.0 -21.6 -26.3 -2.8 -7.5

18 Foreign Equities Purchased, net -60.6 -71.7 -71.7 -39.9 7.0 -0.1 -6.3 -4.8

19 Net Long-term Securities Transactions (line 3 plus line 16): 793.0 369.0 369.0 519.8 3.2 -1.0 52.4 64.2

20 Other Acquisitions of Long-term Securities, net /5 -234.7 -172.2 -172.2 -221.2 -21.8 -21.9 -16.6 -21.0

21 Net Foreign Acquisition of Long-term Securities

(lines 19 and 20): 558.3 196.8 196.8 298.6 -18.5 -22.9 35.8 43.2

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

U.S. Securities and Other Custody Liabilities: /6 -81.2 -95.0 -95.0 58.4 17.2 -2.0 2.9 -5.6

23 U.S. Treasury Bills -40.2 -62.0 -62.0 13.4 23.8 -10.0 4.5 -11.9

24 Private, net 25.6 42.7 42.7 -1.7 13.0 -5.6 0.4 -1.2

25 Official, net -65.8 -104.7 -104.7 15.1 10.8 -4.4 4.1 -10.7

26 Other Negotiable Instruments

and Selected Other Liabilities: /7 -41.0 -33.0 -33.0 44.9 -6.5 8.0 -1.6 6.3

27 Private, net -42.9 -20.0 -20.0 45.8 -5.8 8.2 -2.0 5.2

28 Official, net 1.9 -13.0 -13.0 -0.8 -0.8 -0.2 0.4 1.1

29 Change in Banks' Own Net Dollar-denominated Liabilities -177.3 388.9 388.9 -65.1 5.8 -34.0 -9.1 -12.5

30 Monthly Net TIC Flows (lines 21,22,29) /8 299.9 490.7 490.7 291.8 4.5 -58.9 29.7 25.2

of which

31 Private, net 363.4 477.8 477.8 168.3 -9.6 -57.6 45.2 26.1

32 Official, net -63.5 12.9 12.9 123.6 14.1 -1.3 -15.5 -0.9

/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 Treasury Bulletin and 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)