EMBARGOED UNTIL RELEASE AT 8:30 A.M. EDT, THURSDAY, March 31, 2016 Christopher A. Gohrband: (202) 606-9564 BEA 16-18 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 Fourth Quarter and Year 2015 Fourth Quarter The U.S. net international investment position at the end of the fourth quarter of 2015 was -$7,356.8 billion (preliminary) as the value of U.S. liabilities exceeded the value of U.S. assets (table 1). At the end of the third quarter, the net investment position was -$7,311.6 billion (revised). _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Notice About the 2016 Annual Revision of the U.S. Net International Investment Position The annual revision of the U.S. net international investment position will be released along with preliminary estimates for the first quarter of 2016 on June 30, 2016. An article previewing the annual revisions will appear in the April 2016 issue of the SURVEY OF CURRENT BUSINESS (www.bea.gov/scb/index.htm). _______________________________________________________________________________________________ The net investment position decreased 0.6 percent in the fourth quarter, compared with a decrease of 8.4 percent in the third quarter and an average quarterly decrease of 6.3 percent from the first quarter of 2011 through the second 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 fourth quarter, down from 3.6 percent at the end of the third quarter./1/ U.S. assets were $23,208.3 billion at the end of the fourth quarter compared with $23,326.7 billion at the end of the third quarter. The $118.5 billion decrease reflected a $323.6 billion decrease in the value of financial derivatives, mostly in single-currency interest rate contracts, that was partly offset by a $205.1 billion increase in the value of assets excluding financial derivatives. U.S. assets excluding financial derivatives were $20,810.6 billion at the end of the fourth quarter compared with $20,605.5 billion at the end of the third quarter. The $205.1 billion increase mostly reflected increases in foreign equity prices that increased the value of U.S. direct investment and portfolio investment assets, which was partly offset by the depreciation of major foreign currencies against the U.S. dollar that lowered the value of U.S. assets in dollar terms./2/ U.S. liabilities were $30,565.1 billion at the end of the fourth quarter compared with $30,638.4 billion at the end of the third quarter. The $73.3 billion decrease reflected a $324.1 billion decrease in the value of financial derivatives, mostly in single-currency interest rate contracts, that was partly offset by a $250.7 billion increase in the value of liabilities excluding financial derivatives. U.S. liabilities excluding financial derivatives were $28,224.5 billion at the end of the fourth quarter compared with $27,973.8 billion at the end of the third quarter. The $250.7 billion increase mostly reflected increases in U.S. equity prices that increased the value of U.S. direct investment and portfolio investment liabilities, which was partly offset by decreases in prices on long-term debt securities. Revisions The U.S. net international investment position at the end of the third quarter of 2015 was revised to -$7,311.6 billion from the previously-published value of -$7,269.8 billion. The $41.8 billion downward revision to the net position reflected a $14.8 billion upward revision to U.S. assets and a $56.6 billion upward revision to U.S. liabilities. U.S. assets at the end of the third quarter were revised to $23,326.7 billion from $23,311.9 billion; U.S. liabilities were revised to $30,638.4 billion from $30,581.8 billion. These revisions reflect revised source data from the Treasury International Capital (TIC) reporting system and from BEA’s quarterly surveys of direct investment. Year 2015 The U.S. net international investment position was -$7,356.8 billion (preliminary) at the end of 2015 compared with -$7,019.7 billion at the end of 2014. The $337.1 billion decrease in the net position reflected a $1,387.3 billion decrease in the value of U.S. assets that exceeded a $1,050.2 billion decrease in the value of U.S. liabilities. The U.S. net international investment position decreased 4.8 percent from the end of 2014 to the end of 2015, compared with a 31.8 percent decrease from the end of 2013 to the end of 2014. U.S. assets were $23,208.3 billion at the end of 2015 compared with $24,595.5 billion at the end of 2014. The $1,387.3 billion decrease reflected an $826.9 billion decrease in the value of financial derivatives, mostly in single-currency interest rate contracts, and a $560.4 billion decrease in the value of assets excluding financial derivatives. U.S. assets excluding financial derivatives were $20,810.6 billion at the end of 2015 compared with $21,371.0 billion at the end of 2014. The $560.4 billion decrease was mostly attributable to the depreciation of major foreign currencies against the U.S. dollar that lowered the value of U.S. assets in dollar terms. U.S. liabilities were $30,565.1 billion at the end of 2015 compared with $31,615.2 billion at the end of 2014. The $1,050.2 billion decrease reflected an $810.1 billion decrease in the value of financial derivatives, mostly in single-currency interest rate contracts, and a $240.0 billion decrease in the value of liabilities excluding financial derivatives. U.S. liabilities excluding financial derivatives were $28,224.5 billion at the end of 2015 compared with $28,464.6 billion at the end of 2014. The $240.0 billion decrease was mostly attributable to decreases in U.S. equity and bond prices that lowered the value of portfolio investment liabilities. * * * 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 quarterly highlights (www.bea.gov/newsreleases/international/intinv/2016/pdf/intinv415_fax.pdf) and annual highlights (www.bea.gov/newsreleases/international/intinv/2016/pdf/intinv415annual_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 fourth-quarter and year 2015 statistics in this release are preliminary and will be revised on June 30, 2016. 1 Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRS), Financial Accounts of the United States, Fourth Quarter 2015, Z.1. Statistical Release (Washington, DC: FRS, March 10, 2016). According to the March release, the value of all U.S. financial assets was $207,686.9 billion at the end of the fourth quarter. The value of U.S. assets abroad was $23,208.3 billion, or 11.2 percent of all U.S. financial assets, down from 11.4 percent at the end of the third quarter. 2 According to the Federal Reserve Board’s major currencies index, foreign currencies depreciated 2.3 percent against the U.S. dollar from the end of the third quarter to the end of the fourth 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 (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: Change: Line Type of investment 2014 2015 2015:III to 2014:IV to IV I II III r IV p 2015: IV 2015:IV 1 U.S. net international investment position (line 4 less line 35).................................... -7,019,699 -6,801,407 -6,743,114 -7,311,645 -7,356,784 -45,139 -337,085 2 Net international investment position excluding financial derivatives (line 5 less line 36)..... -7,093,546 -6,880,155 -6,791,708 -7,368,297 -7,413,886 -45,589 -320,340 3 Financial derivatives other than reserves, net (line 6 less line 37)............................ 73,847 78,748 48,594 56,652 57,102 450 -16,745 4 U.S. assets....................................................................................... 24,595,547 25,317,044 24,545,202 23,326,743 23,208,278 -118,465 -1,387,269 5 Assets excluding financial derivatives (sum of lines 7, 10, 21, and 26)....................... 21,371,012 21,940,659 22,087,258 20,605,484 20,810,630 205,146 -560,382 6 Financial derivatives other than reserves, gross positive fair value (line 15)................ 3,224,535 3,376,385 2,457,944 2,721,259 2,397,648 -323,611 -826,887   By functional category: 7 Direct investment at market value............................................................. 7,124,034 7,250,999 7,304,895 6,711,051 6,907,897 196,846 -216,137 8 Equity...................................................................................... 6,052,002 6,177,395 6,191,088 5,618,615 5,787,176 168,561 -264,826 9 Debt instruments............................................................................ 1,072,032 1,073,604 1,113,807 1,092,436 1,120,721 28,285 48,689 10 Portfolio investment.......................................................................... 9,572,539 10,033,728 10,204,632 9,380,582 9,534,447 153,865 -38,092 11 Equity and investment fund shares........................................................... 6,719,690 7,117,995 7,285,866 6,537,696 6,753,212 215,516 33,522 12 Debt securities............................................................................. 2,852,849 2,915,733 2,918,766 2,842,886 2,781,235 -61,651 -71,614 13 Short term................................................................................ 450,171 476,275 520,000 528,564 517,853 -10,711 67,682 14 Long term................................................................................. 2,402,678 2,439,458 2,398,765 2,314,322 2,263,382 -50,940 -139,296 15 Financial derivatives other than reserves, gross positive fair value.......................... 3,224,535 3,376,385 2,457,944 2,721,259 2,397,648 -323,611 -826,887 16 Over-the-counter contracts.................................................................. 3,156,595 3,310,198 2,404,699 2,663,894 2,349,003 -314,891 -807,592 17 Single-currency interest rate contracts................................................... 2,453,622 2,581,182 1,850,451 2,086,288 1,809,628 -276,660 -643,994 18 Foreign exchange contracts................................................................ 425,534 480,916 347,279 363,964 342,290 -21,674 -83,244 19 Other contracts........................................................................... 277,439 248,100 206,969 213,642 197,085 -16,557 -80,354 20 Exchange-traded contracts................................................................... 67,940 66,187 53,245 57,365 48,645 -8,720 -19,295 21 Other investment.............................................................................. 4,240,188 4,237,447 4,162,354 4,113,498 3,984,685 -128,813 -255,503 22 Currency and deposits....................................................................... 1,785,396 1,773,381 1,763,473 1,685,796 1,627,582 -58,214 -157,814 23 Loans....................................................................................... 2,408,601 2,420,072 2,354,203 2,381,980 2,311,961 -70,019 -96,640 24 Insurance technical reserves................................................................ n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. 25 Trade credit and advances................................................................... 46,191 43,994 44,678 45,723 45,143 -580 -1,048 26 Reserve assets................................................................................ 434,251 418,485 415,377 400,352 383,601 -16,751 -50,650 27 Monetary gold............................................................................... 315,368 310,399 306,215 291,310 277,189 -14,121 -38,179 28 Special drawing rights...................................................................... 51,941 49,459 50,425 50,332 49,688 -644 -2,253 29 Reserve position in the International Monetary Fund......................................... 25,164 19,783 19,236 18,891 17,609 -1,282 -7,555 30 Other reserve assets........................................................................ 41,778 38,844 39,501 39,819 39,115 -704 -2,663 31 Currency and deposits..................................................................... 19,003 17,440 17,818 17,926 17,555 -371 -1,448 32 Securities................................................................................ 22,775 21,404 21,683 21,893 21,560 -333 -1,215 33 Financial derivatives..................................................................... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... 34 Other claims.............................................................................. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 35 U.S. liabilities.................................................................................. 31,615,246 32,118,451 31,288,316 30,638,387 30,565,062 -73,325 -1,050,184 36 Liabilities excluding financial derivatives (sum of lines 38, 41, and 56)..................... 28,464,558 28,820,814 28,878,966 27,973,780 28,224,516 250,736 -240,042 37 Financial derivatives other than reserves, gross negative fair value (line 50)................ 3,150,688 3,297,637 2,409,350 2,664,607 2,340,546 -324,061 -810,142   By functional category: 38 Direct investment at market value............................................................. 6,228,795 6,391,903 6,533,300 6,195,697 6,513,079 317,382 284,284 39 Equity...................................................................................... 4,839,384 4,977,559 4,977,389 4,634,885 4,945,388 310,503 106,004 40 Debt instruments............................................................................ 1,389,411 1,414,344 1,555,911 1,560,812 1,567,691 6,879 178,280 41 Portfolio investment.......................................................................... 16,917,146 17,084,559 17,141,387 16,545,578 16,666,192 120,614 -250,954 42 Equity and investment fund shares........................................................... 6,665,202 6,726,984 6,688,768 6,155,463 6,270,722 115,259 -394,480 43 Debt securities............................................................................. 10,251,944 10,357,575 10,452,619 10,390,115 10,395,470 5,355 143,526 44 Short term................................................................................ 912,548 947,868 942,068 890,870 956,262 65,392 43,714 45 Treasury bills and certificates......................................................... 671,636 702,044 700,569 667,144 724,635 57,491 52,999 46 Other short-term securities............................................................. 240,912 245,824 241,499 223,726 231,627 7,901 -9,285 47 Long term................................................................................. 9,339,396 9,409,707 9,510,551 9,499,245 9,439,208 -60,037 99,812 48 Treasury bonds and notes................................................................ 5,484,544 5,473,960 5,474,368 5,439,175 5,423,369 -15,806 -61,175 49 Other long-term securities.............................................................. 3,854,852 3,935,747 4,036,183 4,060,070 4,015,839 -44,231 160,987 50 Financial derivatives other than reserves, gross negative fair value.......................... 3,150,688 3,297,637 2,409,350 2,664,607 2,340,546 -324,061 -810,142 51 Over-the-counter contracts.................................................................. 3,086,341 3,233,504 2,354,697 2,604,301 2,293,554 -310,747 -792,787 52 Single-currency interest rate contracts................................................... 2,401,469 2,524,808 1,801,950 2,031,848 1,757,818 -274,030 -643,651 53 Foreign exchange contracts................................................................ 414,670 465,105 347,471 364,043 344,039 -20,004 -70,631 54 Other contracts........................................................................... 270,202 243,591 205,276 208,410 191,697 -16,713 -78,505 55 Exchange-traded contracts................................................................... 64,347 64,133 54,653 60,306 46,992 -13,314 -17,355 56 Other investment.............................................................................. 5,318,617 5,344,352 5,204,279 5,232,504 5,045,245 -187,259 -273,372 57 Currency and deposits....................................................................... 2,837,615 2,840,808 2,837,372 2,849,750 2,873,404 23,654 35,789 58 Loans....................................................................................... 2,266,948 2,289,945 2,147,486 2,156,286 1,945,963 -210,323 -320,985 59 Insurance technical reserves................................................................ n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. 60 Trade credit and advances................................................................... 162,887 164,882 169,752 176,895 176,940 45 14,053 61 Special drawing rights allocations.......................................................... 51,166 48,718 49,668 49,574 48,938 -636 -2,228 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