How Badly Do We Need China to Buy Our Debt?
Clemens Kownatzki submits:
The Department of U.S. Treasury announced the revised numbers of major foreign holders of U.S. Debt in their most recent update. Based on the new data, China – not Japan – was indeed the number one holder of U.S. Treasuries holding a total $894.8 billion worth of US. Treasury securities at the end of December 2009. Japan in second place held a total of $765.7 billion, $129 billion less than China. See both data for current and previous data in the charts below.
| Updated Chart | Previous Chart |
 |
 |
We have previously wondered what, if any, impact a decline in Chinese holdings of U.S. Treasuries would have. We also considered whether the recent hike in the discount rate would be some sort of a token gesture to the Chinese that potentially higher yields may be an incentive to keep buying those Treasuries.
Related posts:
- Brother, can you spare a dividend?
- Qualcomm Tries to Woo Investors With Massive Buyback and Dividend Hike
- February Manufacturing Data: Despite Decline, Report Is Pretty Bullish
- Inflation Isn’t Inevitable
- 2010′s Sovereign Debt Crisis vs. 2008′s I-Banks: It’s Deja Vu All Over Again
July 29th, 2010 at 3:29 pm
I didn’t choose it – I let the techie people do that.