Foreign accounts were net buyers of U.S. long-term securities in December, increasing their holdings by $103.3 billion. Taking into account net sales of foreign long-term securities by U.S. accounts, at $49.5 billion, the net inflow for October came to $152.8 billion.

Net purchases of Treasury bonds and notes, at $20.0 billion led the rise in U.S. long-term holdings by foreign accounts, plus net purchases of U.S. corporate bonds, at $14.4 billion and government agency bonds, at $14.0 billion. Somewhat offsetting these were net sales by foreign accounts of U.S. equities, at $55.0 billion.

Among top foreign holders of U.S. Treasuries (long and short-term), Japanese accounts decreased holdings by $5.9 billion to bring their holdings to $1.076.3 trillion in December while Chinese accounts reduced by $3.1 billion, bringing their holdings to $867.1 billion.

These Treasury data track the flows of financial instruments into and out of the United States. Instruments tracked include Treasury securities, agency securities, corporate bonds, and corporate equities.

TIC data have been issued since the 1970s, but only recently, due to an enormous rise in foreign participation in our markets, have they grabbed the attention of the international financial markets. Although methodologically limited, TIC offers a measure of foreign demand for our debt and assets. Bonds and the dollar are most sensitive to the data, therefore bond and foreign exchange markets are more likely to react to this report than the equity market. Strong inflows (demand for U.S. securities) are needed to keep downward pressure on interest rates. Strong inflows also underpin the value of the dollar since foreigners must purchase dollars in order to buy our securities. A strong dollar helps to maintain stability in all U.S. financial markets. Since foreign ownership of U.S. equities is comparatively small, the equity market is less concerned about this report.