Foreign capital flows into U.S. drop 45 percent in September

Foreign capital flows into the United States fell 45 percent in September to 53.7 billion dollars in what analysts said was a widely expected drop from August's record high level, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

The capital inflow for August was revised to 97.1 billion dollars, down from the previously reported 103 billion dollars, the Treasury Department was quoted as saying.

In September, net foreign acquisitions of long-term U.S. securities -- those with maturities of more than a year -- accounted for much of the capital flow into the country. They totaled 53.2 billion dollars in September, down 49 percent from August.

Treasury said that foreign investors sold a net 374 million dollars in U.S. Treasury notes and bonds in September, the first net sales of Treasury securities since 2003.

The September reversal followed an August surge in net foreign buying of Treasury notes and bonds, which totaled 44.2 billion dollars, the biggest amount in the previous eight months.

Overall, private foreign investors sold a net 8.1 billion dollars in Treasury notes and bonds in September, their largest net sales since October 2003. At the same time, foreign official institutions bought a net 7.7 billion dollars of those Treasury securities.

Japan remained the largest holder of U.S. Treasury securities; its holdings fell 5.1 billion dollars in September to 639.2 billion dollars. China was a distant second, with its holdings of U.S. Treasury rising 3 billion dollars to 342.1 billion dollars.

Source: Xinhua