US Treasury: Overseas purchases of US securities in April totaled $103 billion, US Treasury holdings increased by $3.9 billion, China’s holdings hit a new low since 2008

The U.S. Treasury stated in its monthly Treasury International Capital (TIC) report on Thursday that foreign investors were estimated to have purchased $103 billion in long-term U.S. securities in April; at the same time, their holdings of U.S. Treasury bonds increased by $3.9 billion. In March, foreign holdings of U.S. Treasuries had dropped sharply by more than $138 billion.

The report showed that among the largest holders of U.S. Treasuries:

Japan’s holdings increased by $18.3 billion in April to $1.21 trillion from $1.19 trillion in March;

The United Kingdom’s holdings rose by $10.6 billion to $937.5 billion from $926.9 billion;

China’s holdings fell slightly by $1.2 billion to $651.1 billion from $652.3 billion, setting a new low since 2008.

From a net trading perspective, foreign investors were net sellers of $13.6 billion in short-term Treasuries with maturities of one year or less, while they were net buyers of $50.5 billion in long-term U.S. Treasuries.

The increase in Treasury holdings brought the total scale of foreign holdings to $9.353 trillion, higher than the level in March but below the record high of $9.49 trillion set in February. In April, foreign investors saw about $39 billion in book losses in their long-term U.S. Treasury holdings due to valuation changes.

This report was released as the Federal Reserve continues to fight inflation, while artificial intelligence-related stocks continue to drive the U.S. stock market bull run. The market is closely watching demand from overseas for U.S. Treasuries.

On Thursday, the U.S. auctioned five-year Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS), which were well received by the market. This partly reflects a rise in the TIPS market "real yield," adjusted for inflation, in recent weeks.

The Treasury stated that in April, the total net foreign purchases of all U.S. assets (TIC net inflows) was $26.1 billion. Of this, net outflows from foreign private investors were $23.1 billion, while net inflows from foreign official institutions were $49.2 billion.

The Treasury added that overseas residents increased their holdings of long-term U.S. securities by $206 billion in April. Among these, net purchases by foreign private investors were $164.4 billion, and net purchases by foreign official institutions were $41.6 billion.