China Is The Biggest Buyer Of U.S. Treasury Bonds

October 18th, 2010

When you hear about the U.S. budget deficit, do you think about bond holders in China? Maybe you should…

For the second month in a row, the Chinese government is the biggest foreign holder of U.S. Treasury bonds – bonds issued and backed by the U.S. government.
A report called TIC (“Treasury International Capital”) tracks sales of American securities to foreign buyers. It’s one way of seeing how easily the U.S. government can attract foreign investors when it needs to raise cash.
In the rank of foreign holders of U.S. Treasury bonds, Japan comes in right behind China.

China’s Treasury bond holdings total $868.4 billion.
Japan’s holdings total $836.6 billion.
In August, private foreign investors bought $85.5 billion in Treasurys. In July they purchased $21.4 billion.