Monday, February 25, 2008

Chinese Still Buying Debt


Here’s some interesting news. The Chinese bought more U.S. debt in December than they sold ... the first time they’ve done so since before the credit crisis began last July.
Mainland China upped its stake in American debt during the month by nearly $20 billion, to $405 billion. Thus, surprisingly, China has brought U.S. Treasury holdings back to pre-credit crisis levels.
Also interesting, Brazil more than doubled its stake in U.S. debt last year, from $53 billion to $126 billion.
As we hasten to note nearly every time this data is released, the number of Treasury notes owned by foreign governments is breathtaking. Even though Japan has been a net seller for the last six months, Japan, China, the U.K. and Brazil own over $1.4 trillion in U.S. Treasuries themselves.

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