CHINA’S holdings of U.S. Treasury bonds and notes for the month of April fell to the lowest level since May 2017, data from the U.S. Treasury department showed Monday. Chinese holdings of U.S. government debt declined for a second straight month, to US$1.113 trillion in April, from US$1.120 trillion the previous month. Even so, the world’s second-largest economy remains the largest non-U.S. holder of Treasuries. Belgium also fell to US$179.8 billion in April, from US$186.6 billion in March. Gennadiy Goldberg, senior rates strategist at TD Securities in New York, said it could have been profit-taking from the build-up of holdings in the first quarter of the year. “If you look at the flow of funds, for example, there was notable buying of U.S. Treasuries in the first quarter. So this certainly suggests that foreigners are taking more profits off the table,” Goldberg said, while saying he does not think the decline was related to the trade conflict. The data showed that Japan, the second-largest non-U.S. holder of Treasuries, also reduced its holdings of Treasuries in April, to US$1.064 trillion, from US$1.078 trillion the previous month. Overall, foreign holdings of U.S. Treasuries dropped to US$6.433 trillion in April, from US$6.473 trillion in March. Foreign flows of U.S. Treasuries, meanwhile, showed an inflow of US$16.949 billion in April, from net selling of US$12.526 billion in March. (SD-Agencies) |