Foreigners bought more than $19 billion in US long-term securities in May, including Treasuries and corporate bonds, after selling debt in April, the US Treasury Department said on Wednesday. Including short-term debt and banking inflows overseas investors purchased $35.5 billion of US securities, of which $22.4 billion was acquired by foreign official institutions.
The largest purchasers of US debt were Japan and China, who bought $10.4 billion and $7.7 billion in debt, respectively, in May. China is the largest foreign holder of US debt at $1.27 trillion, with Japan ranking second with $1.22 trillion in holdings. Belgium's holdings fell for a second consecutive month. That country's official holdings had risen dramatically in recent months due to purchases by clearinghouse Euroclear on behalf of other institutions. In May, total holdings were $362.4 billion, down from $366.4 billion in April.
The most significant sales came from the United Kingdom, with $5.7 billion in net sales. Foreigners bought a net total of $10.78 billion in corporate equities in May, the biggest month for purchases of equities since September of last year. For the second month in a row, foreigners were net sellers of corporate debt, with net sales of $5.39 billion, though official foreign institutions purchased $1.21 billion in corporate debt. Foreigners have been steady sellers of corporate debt recently, with net sales in six of the last seven months.