The Treasury's tally folds in both price swings and net transactions, and it shows a month over month gain of more than $83 billion in August, lifting foreign-held Treasuries to $9.33 trillion.
Japan, still the largest overseas holder, trimmed its stake by $36 billion to $1.1 trillion, the smallest since December 2024. Over the summer, officials intervened in currency markets by buying yen as it fell to its weakest level against the dollar in four decades, and Japanese figures last month indicated Tokyo offloaded some of its Treasuries and other securities.
Mainland China, the third largest holder, decreased its total by $27 billion to $591 billion, an 18 year low. Some analysts have said Beijing might have routed some of its US securities activity through other countries, including Canada.
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Canada increased its stake by $38 billion to nearly $465 billion. Belgium raised holdings by almost $20 billion to roughly $491 billion. The UK increased by $11 billion to move above $1 trillion for the first time.
This snapshot shows who was buying and selling in August and where totals now stand, from Japan's and China's pullbacks to the UK crossing $1 trillion. For fixed income watchers, it is a clear read on the composition of foreign ownership alongside the recent moves in the Bloomberg US Treasury index.
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