Tuesday 18 May 2010


CHINA INCREASES HOLDINGS OF U.S. TREASURY BONDS

Martin Crutsinger

The Washington Post, May 18, 2010

China boosted its holdings of U.S. Treasury debt for the first time in six months, U.S. officials said Monday. That development could ease concerns that lagging foreign demand will force the United States to pay higher interest rates to finance its debt.

The Treasury Department said that China's holdings of U.S. Treasury securities rose 2 percent in March, to $895 billion, the first increase since last September. The purchases solidified China's position as the world's largest holder of U.S. debt.

Japan, the No. 2 investor, also increased its holdings in March. They rose 2.1 percent, to $784 billion. Total foreign holdings of Treasury securities rose 3.5 percent, to $3.9 trillion.

The government reported that net holdings of long-term securities, which includes the debt of U.S. companies as well as government debt, rose $140 billion in March, the largest one-month gain on record. It surpassed the old record of $135.8 billion in May 2007.

The big increase was influenced by two factors: a flight to safety by investors increasingly worried about the debt crisis in Europe and a rebounding U.S. economy that has made American corporate debt more attractive to foreigners.

(...) [artículo aquí]

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