EMBARGOED UNTIL RELEASE AT 8:30 A.M. EDT, TUESDAY, September 29, 2015 Elena L. Nguyen: (202) 606-9555 BEA 15-47 Doug Weinberg: (202) 606-9590 (For inquiries regarding direct investment) U.S. Net International Investment Position: End of the Second Quarter of 2015 The U.S. net international investment position at the end of the second quarter of 2015 was -$6,688.3 billion (preliminary) as the value of U.S. liabilities exceeded the value of U.S. assets (table 1). At the end of the first quarter, the net investment position was -$6,801.4 billion (revised). Highlights * The $113.1 billion increase in the net investment position reflected net other changes in position of $168.2 billion that were partly offset by net financial transactions of -$55.1 billion. Other changes in position include price changes, exchange-rate changes, and other changes in volume and valuation. * U.S. assets decreased $779.3 billion and U.S. liabilities decreased $892.4 billion, mostly as a result of decreases in the value of financial derivatives. * U.S. assets excluding financial derivatives increased $135.5 billion, reflecting financial transactions of $144.9 billion that were partly offset by other changes in position of -$9.4 billion. * U.S. liabilities excluding financial derivatives decreased $20.2 billion, reflecting other changes in position of -$221.9 billion that were mostly offset by financial transactions of $201.7 billion. The increase in the net investment position reflected the impact of price decreases for U.S. assets and liabilities and the appreciation of foreign currencies against the U.S. dollar, as described in greater detail below. The net investment position increased 1.7 percent in the second quarter, compared with an increase of 3.1 percent in the first quarter and an average quarterly decrease of 7.3 percent from the first quarter of 2011 through the fourth quarter of 2014. The net investment position was equal to 3.2 percent of the value of all U.S. financial assets at the end of the second quarter, down from 3.3 percent at the end of the first quarter./1/ U.S. assets were $24,537.7 billion at the end of the second quarter compared with $25,317.0 billion at the end of the first quarter. The $779.3 billion decrease reflected a $914.9 billion decrease in the value of financial derivatives that was partly offset by a $135.5 billion increase in the value of assets excluding financial derivatives. U.S. assets excluding financial derivatives were $22,076.2 billion at the end of the second quarter compared with $21,940.7 billion at the end of the first quarter. The $135.5 billion increase reflected a $144.9 billion increase resulting from financial transactions that was partly offset by a $9.4 billion decrease resulting from other changes in position./2/ Other changes in position reflected the decrease of foreign equity and bond prices that lowered the value of U.S. direct investment and portfolio investment assets. Decreases in foreign equity and bond prices were mostly offset by the appreciation of major foreign currencies against the U.S. dollar that raised the value of U.S. assets in dollar terms./3/ U.S. liabilities were $31,226.0 billion at the end of the second quarter compared with $32,118.5 billion at the end of the first quarter. The $892.4 billion decrease reflected an $872.2 billion decrease in the value of financial derivatives and a $20.2 billion decrease in the value of liabilities excluding financial derivatives. U.S. liabilities excluding financial derivatives were $28,800.6 billion at the end of the second quarter compared with $28,820.8 billion at the end of the first quarter. The $20.2 billion decrease reflected a $221.9 billion decrease resulting from other changes in position that was mostly offset by a $201.7 billion increase resulting from financial transactions. Other changes in position were mostly attributable to decreases in U.S. bond prices that lowered the value of U.S. portfolio investment liabilities. These decreases were slightly offset by increases in the value of U.S. liabilities denominated in foreign currencies as the U.S. dollar weakened in the second quarter. Revisions The U.S. net international investment position at the end of the first quarter of 2015 was revised to -$6,801.4 billion from the previously-published value of -$6,794.0 billion. The $7.4 billion downward revision to the net position reflected a $7.3 billion downward revision to U.S. assets and a $0.1 billion upward revision to U.S. liabilities. U.S. assets at the end of the first quarter were revised to $25,317.0 billion from $25,324.4 billion; U.S. liabilities were revised to $32,118.5 billion from $32,118.3 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 2015: End of the Fourth Quarter and Year 2014..........................March 31, 2015 (Tuesday) End of the First Quarter of 2015, Year 2014, and Annual Revisions.June 30, 2015 (Tuesday) End of the Second Quarter of 2015............................September 29, 2015 (Tuesday) End of the Third Quarter of 2015..............................December 29, 2015 (Tuesday) * * * 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 (www.bea.gov) along with Highlights (www.bea.gov/newsreleases/international/intinv/2015/pdf/intinv215_fax.pdf) related to this release, the latest detailed statistics (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 second-quarter statistics in this release are preliminary and will be revised on December 29, 2015. 1 Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRS), Financial Accounts of the United States, Second Quarter 2015, Z.1. Statistical Release (Washington, DC: FRS, September 18, 2015). According to the September release, the value of all U.S. financial assets was $206,473.5 billion at the end of the second quarter. The value of U.S. assets abroad was $24,537.7 billion, or 11.9 percent of all U.S. financial assets, down from 12.3 percent at the end of the first 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 appreciated 2.4 percent against the U.S. dollar from the end of the first quarter to the end of the second 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:I to I II III IV I r II p 2015:II 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 -6,688,315 113,092 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 -6,724,425 155,730 3 Financial derivatives other than reserves, net (line 6 less line 37)............................ 69,421 33,334 54,213 73,847 78,748 36,110 -42,638 4 U.S. assets....................................................................................... 24,080,862 24,987,306 24,596,646 24,595,547 25,317,044 24,537,696 -779,348 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 22,076,171 135,512 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 2,461,525 -914,860   By functional category: 7 Direct investment at market value............................................................. 7,183,037 7,480,688 7,231,870 7,124,034 7,250,999 7,298,353 47,354 8 Equity...................................................................................... 6,119,909 6,413,204 6,155,625 6,052,002 6,177,395 6,201,828 24,433 9 Debt instruments............................................................................ 1,063,128 1,067,484 1,076,245 1,072,032 1,073,604 1,096,525 22,921 10 Portfolio investment.......................................................................... 9,400,599 9,997,286 9,710,959 9,572,539 10,033,728 10,198,480 164,752 11 Equity and investment fund shares........................................................... 6,627,771 7,061,208 6,803,745 6,719,690 7,117,995 7,285,739 167,744 12 Debt securities............................................................................. 2,772,828 2,936,078 2,907,214 2,852,849 2,915,733 2,912,741 -2,992 13 Short term................................................................................ 432,776 479,151 471,292 450,171 476,275 520,317 44,042 14 Long term................................................................................. 2,340,052 2,456,927 2,435,922 2,402,678 2,439,458 2,392,424 -47,034 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 2,461,525 -914,860 16 Over-the-counter contracts.................................................................. 2,619,651 2,672,455 2,754,530 3,156,595 3,310,198 2,409,740 -900,458 17 Single-currency interest rate contracts................................................... 2,074,736 2,190,627 2,103,959 2,453,622 2,581,182 1,850,457 -730,725 18 Foreign exchange contracts................................................................ 271,949 229,408 412,361 425,534 480,916 352,314 -128,602 19 Other contracts........................................................................... 272,966 252,420 238,210 277,439 248,100 206,969 -41,131 20 Exchange-traded contracts................................................................... 35,831 34,419 43,727 67,940 66,187 51,785 -14,402 21 Other investment.............................................................................. 4,370,859 4,324,592 4,411,573 4,240,188 4,237,447 4,163,961 -73,486 22 Currency and deposits....................................................................... 1,937,231 1,914,809 1,933,219 1,785,396 1,773,381 1,766,473 -6,908 23 Loans....................................................................................... 2,387,772 2,361,214 2,431,782 2,408,601 2,420,072 2,352,810 -67,262 24 Insurance technical reserves................................................................ 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 44,678 684 26 Reserve assets................................................................................ 470,884 477,865 443,987 434,251 418,485 415,377 -3,108 27 Monetary gold............................................................................... 337,791 343,871 318,113 315,368 310,399 306,215 -4,184 28 Special drawing rights...................................................................... 55,394 55,411 53,148 51,941 49,459 50,425 966 29 Reserve position in the International Monetary Fund......................................... 29,820 30,535 28,358 25,164 19,783 19,236 -547 30 Other reserve assets........................................................................ 47,879 48,048 44,368 41,778 38,844 39,501 657 31 Currency and deposits..................................................................... 20,930 24,777 22,143 19,003 17,440 17,818 378 32 Securities................................................................................ 21,727 21,866 22,225 22,775 21,404 21,683 279 33 Financial derivatives..................................................................... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... 34 Other claims.............................................................................. 5,222 1,405 0 0 0 0 0 35 U.S. liabilities.................................................................................. 29,564,222 30,505,923 30,801,563 31,615,246 32,118,451 31,226,011 -892,440 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 28,800,596 -20,218 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 2,425,415 -872,222   By functional category: 38 Direct investment at market value............................................................. 5,683,630 5,934,993 6,023,492 6,228,795 6,391,903 6,434,435 42,532 39 Equity...................................................................................... 4,370,632 4,603,276 4,639,198 4,839,384 4,977,559 4,978,289 730 40 Debt instruments............................................................................ 1,312,998 1,331,717 1,384,294 1,389,411 1,414,344 1,456,146 41,802 41 Portfolio investment.......................................................................... 15,938,103 16,423,330 16,570,603 16,917,146 17,084,559 17,162,433 77,874 42 Equity and investment fund shares........................................................... 6,051,072 6,352,073 6,450,520 6,665,202 6,726,984 6,686,720 -40,264 43 Debt securities............................................................................. 9,887,031 10,071,257 10,120,083 10,251,944 10,357,575 10,475,713 118,138 44 Short term................................................................................ 904,573 879,623 870,771 912,548 947,868 942,028 -5,840 45 Treasury bills and certificates......................................................... 689,327 627,612 614,053 671,636 702,044 700,529 -1,515 46 Other short-term securities............................................................. 215,246 252,011 256,718 240,912 245,824 241,499 -4,325 47 Long term................................................................................. 8,982,458 9,191,634 9,249,312 9,339,396 9,409,707 9,533,685 123,978 48 Treasury bonds and notes................................................................ 5,260,807 5,392,941 5,458,147 5,484,544 5,473,960 5,474,802 842 49 Other long-term securities.............................................................. 3,721,651 3,798,693 3,791,165 3,854,852 3,935,747 4,058,883 123,136 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 2,425,415 -872,222 51 Over-the-counter contracts.................................................................. 2,552,846 2,639,871 2,700,424 3,086,341 3,233,504 2,371,983 -861,521 52 Single-currency interest rate contracts................................................... 2,014,778 2,132,641 2,049,218 2,401,469 2,524,808 1,801,950 -722,858 53 Foreign exchange contracts................................................................ 271,154 256,370 415,208 414,670 465,105 364,757 -100,348 54 Other contracts........................................................................... 266,914 250,860 235,998 270,202 243,591 205,276 -38,315 55 Exchange-traded contracts................................................................... 33,215 33,669 43,620 64,347 64,133 53,432 -10,701 56 Other investment.............................................................................. 5,356,428 5,474,060 5,463,424 5,318,617 5,344,352 5,203,728 -140,624 57 Currency and deposits....................................................................... 2,795,225 2,899,696 2,931,024 2,837,615 2,840,808 2,845,664 4,856 58 Loans....................................................................................... 2,344,616 2,352,664 2,317,634 2,266,948 2,289,945 2,138,643 -151,302 59 Insurance technical reserves................................................................ 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 4,870 61 Special drawing rights allocations.......................................................... 54,585 54,594 52,358 51,166 48,718 49,668 950 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