19 August 2009

China Makes Biggest Cut in US Treasury Assets Since 2000


China dumps US Treasuries the most aggressively in a decade. Now THAT's a change you can believe in.

One has to wonder how long the UK, Japan and the US can keep supporting each other's crony capitalist oligopolies.

China Daily
China cuts US Treasury holdings in June
2009-08-18

NEW YORK: China reduced its holdings of US Treasury debt in June by the biggest margin in nearly nine years, according to a US Treasury Department report issued on Monday.

China cut its net holdings by 3.1 percent to $776.4 billion in June from $801.5 billion in May, the report says. This is also the first large-scale reduction of US Treasury debt by China so far this year.

However, its June holdings were still larger than April's $763.5 billion and $767.9 billion in March, according to the statistics of the Treasury Department.

Reuters data show the drop in China's Treasury holdings in June was the biggest percentage reduction since a 4.2 percent cut in October 2000.

On the other hand, Japan, the second-largest holder of US Treasury securities, increased its holdings to $711.8 billion in June from $677.2 billion in May.

The United Kingdom, the third largest holder, also increased its holdings to $214 billion in June from $163.8 billion, a surge of 30.6 percent.