Foreigners Bought A Record Amount Of US Stocks In 2020, Bond-Selling Continues

Thanks to a $73.8 billion buying spree in December…

2020 saw foreigners buy a stunning $368 billion in US equities ($294bn by official institutions and $74 billion by private entities)…

That is more than triple the 2010 and 2012 totals, more than double 2009 ($152bn), and over 50% bigger than the previous biggest year – 2007 – when total buying topped $195bn.

Overall, December saw selling in Treasuries and Corporate bonds, buying in Agencies (and stocks as we have discussed):

• Treasuries: -$20.7BN

• Agencies: +$51.2BN

• Corporate Bonds: -$11.4BN

• Corporate Stocks: +$78.3BN

Finally, we note that while Treasury holdings overall are steady, they have a long way to go to match the de-dollarization trend seen in gold holdings over the past year…

Source: Bloomberg