EMBARGOED UNTIL RELEASE AT 8:30 A.M. EST, TUESDAY, December 29, 2015 Christopher A. Gohrband: (202) 606-9564 BEA 15-68 Elena L. Nguyen: (202) 606-9555 Doug Weinberg: (202) 606-9590 (For inquiries regarding direct investment) U.S. Net International Investment Position: End of the Third Quarter of 2015 The U.S. net international investment position at the end of the third quarter of 2015 was -$7,269.8 billion (preliminary) as the value of U.S. liabilities exceeded the value of U.S. assets (table 1). At the end of the second quarter, the net investment position was -$6,743.1 billion (revised). Highlights * The $526.7 billion decrease in the net investment position reflected net other changes in position of -$514.9 billion and net financial transactions of -$11.8 billion. Other changes in position include price changes, exchange-rate changes, and other changes in volume and valuation. * U.S. assets decreased $1,233.3 billion and U.S. liabilities decreased $706.6 billion, mostly as a result of decreases in the value of portfolio and direct investment assets and liabilities. * U.S. assets excluding financial derivatives decreased $1,496.6 billion, reflecting other changes in position of -$1,419.3 billion and financial transactions of -$77.3 billion. * U.S. liabilities excluding financial derivatives decreased $961.8 billion, reflecting other changes in position of -$897.1 billion and financial transactions of -$64.7 billion. The decrease in the net investment position reflected equity price decreases for U.S. assets and liabilities and the depreciation of foreign currencies against the U.S. dollar. The net investment position decreased 7.8 percent in the third quarter, compared with an increase of 0.9 percent in the second quarter and an average quarterly decrease of 6.7 percent from the first quarter of 2011 through the first quarter of 2015. The net investment position was equal to 3.5 percent of the value of all U.S. financial assets at the end of the third quarter, up from 3.2 percent at the end of the second quarter./1/ U.S. assets were $23,311.9 billion at the end of the third quarter compared with $24,545.2 billion at the end of the second quarter. The $1,233.3 billion decrease reflected a $1,496.6 billion decrease in the value of assets excluding financial derivatives that was partly offset by a $263.3 billion increase in the value of financial derivatives. U.S. assets excluding financial derivatives were $20,590.7 billion at the end of the third quarter compared with $22,087.3 billion at the end of the second quarter. The $1,496.6 billion decrease reflected a $1,419.3 billion decrease resulting from other changes in position and a $77.3 billion decrease resulting from financial transactions./2/ Other changes in position mostly reflected decreases in foreign equity prices that lowered the value of U.S. direct investment and portfolio investment assets, and to a lesser extent, the depreciation of major foreign currencies against the U.S. dollar that lowered the value of U.S. assets in dollar terms./3/ U.S. liabilities were $30,581.8 billion at the end of the third quarter compared with $31,288.3 billion at the end of the second quarter. The $706.6 billion decrease reflected a $961.8 billion decrease in the value of liabilities excluding financial derivatives that was partly offset by a $255.3 billion increase in the value of financial derivatives. U.S. liabilities excluding financial derivatives were $27,917.1 billion at the end of the third quarter compared with $28,879.0 billion at the end of the second quarter. The $961.8 billion decrease reflected an $897.1 billion decrease resulting from other changes in position and a $64.7 billion decrease resulting from financial transactions. Other changes in position mostly reflected decreases in U.S. equity prices that lowered the value of U.S. direct investment and portfolio investment liabilities. Revisions The U.S. net international investment position at the end of the second quarter of 2015 was revised to -$6,743.1 billion from the previously-published value of -$6,688.3 billion. The $54.8 billion downward revision to the net position reflected a $7.5 billion upward revision to U.S. assets and a $62.3 billion upward revision to U.S. liabilities. U.S. assets at the end of the second quarter were revised to $24,545.2 billion from $24,537.7 billion; U.S. liabilities were revised to $31,288.3 billion from $31,226.0 billion. These revisions reflect revised source data from the Treasury International Capital (TIC) reporting system and from BEA’s quarterly surveys of direct investment. * * * Release dates in 2016: End of the Fourth Quarter and Year 2015..................... ....March 31, 2016 (Thursday) End of the First Quarter of 2016, Year 2015, and Annual Revisions.June 30, 2016 (Thursday) End of the Second Quarter of 2016.............................September 27, 2016 (Tuesday) End of the Third Quarter of 2016..............................December 29, 2016 (Thursday) * * * BEA statistics—including GDP, personal income, the balance of payments, foreign direct investment, the input-output accounts, and economic statistics for states, local areas, and industries—are available on the BEA Web site: www.bea.gov. E-mail alerts (www.bea.gov/_subscribe/index_vocus.htm) are also available. NOTE: This news release is available on BEA’s Web site along with Highlights (http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/international/intinv/2015/pdf/intinv315_fax.pdf) related to this release, the latest detailed statistics (http://www.bea.gov/iTable/index_ita.cfm) for the U.S. international investment position, and a description of the estimation methods (www.bea.gov/international/concepts_methods.htm) used to compile them. The third-quarter statistics in this release are preliminary and will be revised on March 31, 2016. 1 Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRS), Financial Accounts of the United States, Third Quarter 2015, Z.1. Statistical Release (Washington, DC: FRS, December 10, 2015). According to the December release, the value of all U.S. financial assets was $205,068.1 billion at the end of the third quarter. The value of U.S. assets abroad was $23,311.9 billion, or 11.4 percent of all U.S. financial assets, down from 11.8 percent at the end of the second quarter. 2 For statistics on financial transactions, see the financial account in table 1.2 (http://www.bea.gov/iTable/iTableHtml.cfm?reqid=62&step=6&isuri=1&6230=1&6220=1,2&6221=2&6210=1&6223=&6200=2&6224=&6222=0) of the U.S. International Transactions Accounts. Quarterly financial transactions presented in this release are not seasonally adjusted. Detail on other changes in position such as price changes, exchange-rate changes, and other changes in volume and valuation is presented only for annual statistics in the June release each year. 3 According to the Federal Reserve Board’s major currencies index, foreign currencies depreciated 2.5 percent against the U.S. dollar from the end of the second quarter to the end of the third quarter. The major currencies index is a weighted average of the foreign exchange values of the U.S. dollar against a subset of the broad index currencies that circulate widely outside the country of issue. See Foreign Exchange Rates—H10 (weekly release of daily data), Nominal Major Currencies Index (http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h10/summary/indexn96_b.htm) at www.federalreserve.gov. Table 1. U.S. Net International Investment Position at the End of the Period [Millions of dollars, not seasonally adjusted] Change Line Type of investment 2014 2015 2015:II to I II III IV I II r III p 2015:III 1 U.S. net international investment position (line 4 less line 35).................................... -5,483,360 -5,518,617 -6,204,917 -7,019,699 -6,801,407 -6,743,114 -7,269,829 -526,715 2 Net international investment position excluding financial derivatives (line 5 less line 36)..... -5,552,781 -5,551,951 -6,259,130 -7,093,546 -6,880,155 -6,791,708 -7,326,481 -534,773 3 Financial derivatives other than reserves, net (line 6 less line 37)............................ 69,421 33,334 54,213 73,847 78,748 48,594 56,652 8,058 4 U.S. assets....................................................................................... 24,080,862 24,987,306 24,596,646 24,595,547 25,317,044 24,545,202 23,311,922 -1,233,280 5 Assets excluding financial derivatives (sum of lines 7, 10, 21, and 26)....................... 21,425,380 22,280,432 21,798,389 21,371,012 21,940,659 22,087,258 20,590,663 -1,496,595 6 Financial derivatives other than reserves, gross positive fair value (line 15)................ 2,655,482 2,706,874 2,798,257 3,224,535 3,376,385 2,457,944 2,721,259 263,315   By functional category: 7 Direct investment at market value............................................................. 7,183,037 7,480,688 7,231,870 7,124,034 7,250,999 7,304,895 6,695,189 -609,706 8 Equity...................................................................................... 6,119,909 6,413,204 6,155,625 6,052,002 6,177,395 6,191,088 5,609,398 -581,690 9 Debt instruments............................................................................ 1,063,128 1,067,484 1,076,245 1,072,032 1,073,604 1,113,807 1,085,791 -28,016 10 Portfolio investment.......................................................................... 9,400,599 9,997,286 9,710,959 9,572,539 10,033,728 10,204,632 9,376,875 -827,757 11 Equity and investment fund shares........................................................... 6,627,771 7,061,208 6,803,745 6,719,690 7,117,995 7,285,866 6,534,436 -751,430 12 Debt securities............................................................................. 2,772,828 2,936,078 2,907,214 2,852,849 2,915,733 2,918,766 2,842,439 -76,327 13 Short term................................................................................ 432,776 479,151 471,292 450,171 476,275 520,000 528,891 8,891 14 Long term................................................................................. 2,340,052 2,456,927 2,435,922 2,402,678 2,439,458 2,398,765 2,313,548 -85,217 15 Financial derivatives other than reserves, gross positive fair value.......................... 2,655,482 2,706,874 2,798,257 3,224,535 3,376,385 2,457,944 2,721,259 263,315 16 Over-the-counter contracts.................................................................. 2,619,651 2,672,455 2,754,530 3,156,595 3,310,198 2,404,699 2,663,894 259,195 17 Single-currency interest rate contracts................................................... 2,074,736 2,190,627 2,103,959 2,453,622 2,581,182 1,850,451 2,086,288 235,837 18 Foreign exchange contracts................................................................ 271,949 229,408 412,361 425,534 480,916 347,279 363,964 16,685 19 Other contracts........................................................................... 272,966 252,420 238,210 277,439 248,100 206,969 213,642 6,673 20 Exchange-traded contracts................................................................... 35,831 34,419 43,727 67,940 66,187 53,245 57,365 4,120 21 Other investment.............................................................................. 4,370,859 4,324,592 4,411,573 4,240,188 4,237,447 4,162,354 4,118,247 -44,107 22 Currency and deposits....................................................................... 1,937,231 1,914,809 1,933,219 1,785,396 1,773,381 1,763,473 1,695,202 -68,271 23 Loans....................................................................................... 2,387,772 2,361,214 2,431,782 2,408,601 2,420,072 2,354,203 2,377,655 23,452 24 Insurance technical reserves................................................................ n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. 25 Trade credit and advances................................................................... 45,856 48,569 46,572 46,191 43,994 44,678 45,389 711 26 Reserve assets................................................................................ 470,884 477,865 443,987 434,251 418,485 415,377 400,352 -15,025 27 Monetary gold............................................................................... 337,791 343,871 318,113 315,368 310,399 306,215 291,310 -14,905 28 Special drawing rights...................................................................... 55,394 55,411 53,148 51,941 49,459 50,425 50,332 -93 29 Reserve position in the International Monetary Fund......................................... 29,820 30,535 28,358 25,164 19,783 19,236 18,891 -345 30 Other reserve assets........................................................................ 47,879 48,048 44,368 41,778 38,844 39,501 39,819 318 31 Currency and deposits..................................................................... 20,930 24,777 22,143 19,003 17,440 17,818 17,926 108 32 Securities................................................................................ 21,727 21,866 22,225 22,775 21,404 21,683 21,893 210 33 Financial derivatives..................................................................... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... 34 Other claims.............................................................................. 5,222 1,405 0 0 0 0 0 0 35 U.S. liabilities.................................................................................. 29,564,222 30,505,923 30,801,563 31,615,246 32,118,451 31,288,316 30,581,750 -706,566 36 Liabilities excluding financial derivatives (sum of lines 38, 41, and 56)..................... 26,978,161 27,832,383 28,057,519 28,464,558 28,820,814 28,878,966 27,917,143 -961,823 37 Financial derivatives other than reserves, gross negative fair value (line 50)................ 2,586,061 2,673,540 2,744,044 3,150,688 3,297,637 2,409,350 2,664,607 255,257   By functional category: 38 Direct investment at market value............................................................. 5,683,630 5,934,993 6,023,492 6,228,795 6,391,903 6,533,300 6,196,447 -336,853 39 Equity...................................................................................... 4,370,632 4,603,276 4,639,198 4,839,384 4,977,559 4,977,389 4,637,544 -339,845 40 Debt instruments............................................................................ 1,312,998 1,331,717 1,384,294 1,389,411 1,414,344 1,555,911 1,558,903 2,992 41 Portfolio investment.......................................................................... 15,938,103 16,423,330 16,570,603 16,917,146 17,084,559 17,141,387 16,494,673 -646,714 42 Equity and investment fund shares........................................................... 6,051,072 6,352,073 6,450,520 6,665,202 6,726,984 6,688,768 6,115,854 -572,914 43 Debt securities............................................................................. 9,887,031 10,071,257 10,120,083 10,251,944 10,357,575 10,452,619 10,378,819 -73,800 44 Short term................................................................................ 904,573 879,623 870,771 912,548 947,868 942,068 889,515 -52,553 45 Treasury bills and certificates......................................................... 689,327 627,612 614,053 671,636 702,044 700,569 665,842 -34,727 46 Other short-term securities............................................................. 215,246 252,011 256,718 240,912 245,824 241,499 223,673 -17,826 47 Long term................................................................................. 8,982,458 9,191,634 9,249,312 9,339,396 9,409,707 9,510,551 9,489,304 -21,247 48 Treasury bonds and notes................................................................ 5,260,807 5,392,941 5,458,147 5,484,544 5,473,960 5,474,368 5,437,413 -36,955 49 Other long-term securities.............................................................. 3,721,651 3,798,693 3,791,165 3,854,852 3,935,747 4,036,183 4,051,891 15,708 50 Financial derivatives other than reserves, gross negative fair value.......................... 2,586,061 2,673,540 2,744,044 3,150,688 3,297,637 2,409,350 2,664,607 255,257 51 Over-the-counter contracts.................................................................. 2,552,846 2,639,871 2,700,424 3,086,341 3,233,504 2,354,697 2,604,301 249,604 52 Single-currency interest rate contracts................................................... 2,014,778 2,132,641 2,049,218 2,401,469 2,524,808 1,801,950 2,031,848 229,898 53 Foreign exchange contracts................................................................ 271,154 256,370 415,208 414,670 465,105 347,471 364,043 16,572 54 Other contracts........................................................................... 266,914 250,860 235,998 270,202 243,591 205,276 208,410 3,134 55 Exchange-traded contracts................................................................... 33,215 33,669 43,620 64,347 64,133 54,653 60,306 5,653 56 Other investment.............................................................................. 5,356,428 5,474,060 5,463,424 5,318,617 5,344,352 5,204,279 5,226,023 21,744 57 Currency and deposits....................................................................... 2,795,225 2,899,696 2,931,024 2,837,615 2,840,808 2,837,372 2,844,446 7,074 58 Loans....................................................................................... 2,344,616 2,352,664 2,317,634 2,266,948 2,289,945 2,147,486 2,155,513 8,027 59 Insurance technical reserves................................................................ n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. 60 Trade credit and advances................................................................... 162,002 167,107 162,407 162,887 164,882 169,752 176,490 6,738 61 Special drawing rights allocations.......................................................... 54,585 54,594 52,358 51,166 48,718 49,668 49,574 -94 p Preliminary r Revised n.a. Not available ..... Not applicable Note: Details may not add to totals because of rounding. Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis