Summary

Yesterday, the Federal Reserved released the latest edition of its "Z.1" publication," "Flow of Funds Accounts of the United States." Thus, the latest batch of scary investment numbers regarding our friends abroad has arrived! The most recent data are through the quarter ended 9/30/05.

Per the numbers, US financial assets held by foreign investors registered a sizable increase of $212 billion during this year's third quarter. As of 9/30, total holdings were reported at an enormous $10.681 trillion. Also as of 9/30, net foreign financial claims against the United States stood at $5.473 trillion, a very, very sizable jump of almost $637 billion during the September quarter, and an increase of a remarkable $1.25 trillion from a year earlier.

It was roughly a mere 20 years ago that the United States was still a net creditor nation! Continue to Gillespie Research for the balance of the essay: http://www.gillespieresearch.com/cgi-bin/s/article/id=723.