Foreign investors have recently shown strong interest in U.S. bonds—Treasuries in particular
| Period | Trailing-Year Flows as a Percent of GDP; Net foreign purchases of U.S. Treasury bonds | Trailing-Year Flows as aPercent of GDP; Net foreign purchases of U.S. agency bonds | Trailing-Year Flows as a Percent of GDP; Net foreign purchases of U.S. corporate bonds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dec/1977 | 1.117635916 | 0.130706573 | 0.073404054 |
| Mar/1978 | 1.066 | 0.126604651 | 0.061627907 |
| Jun/1978 | 0.797811566 | 0.094172965 | 0.048470733 |
| Sep/1978 | 0.473889222 | 0.087663727 | 0.041520418 |
| Dec/1978 | 0.194786926 | 0.052709971 | 0.042407944 |
| Mar/1979 | 0.082575881 | 0.039360493 | 0.040577828 |
| Jun/1979 | 0.105554676 | 0.032877038 | 0.033984808 |
| Sep/1979 | 0.15042104 | 0.027146537 | 0.021801823 |
| Dec/1979 | 0.107648938 | 0.020484871 | 0.022289043 |
| Mar/1980 | 0.161890434 | 0.068616299 | 0.028327157 |
| Jun/1980 | 0.166929249 | 0.063386216 | 0.06247023 |
| Sep/1980 | 0.123196727 | 0.069547118 | 0.092155315 |
| Dec/1980 | 0.167815146 | 0.087764407 | 0.098769241 |
| Mar/1981 | 0.252858126 | 0.065155436 | 0.132538409 |
| Jun/1981 | 0.320651998 | 0.084124567 | 0.118863217 |
| Sep/1981 | 0.390851606 | 0.081354013 | 0.118727782 |
| Dec/1981 | 0.470998623 | 0.048930046 | 0.108528344 |
| Mar/1982 | 0.512834191 | 0.028680808 | 0.073804443 |
| Jun/1982 | 0.51910445 | 0.024331576 | 0.086872051 |
| Sep/1982 | 0.543800745 | -0.007020328 | 0.064770161 |
| Dec/1982 | 0.522538016 | -0.010861694 | 0.054580014 |
| Mar/1983 | 0.463271158 | -0.021401756 | 0.041089006 |
| Jun/1983 | 0.455698746 | -0.035762464 | 0.012772308 |
| Sep/1983 | 0.244476639 | -0.029671524 | 0.012788009 |
| Dec/1983 | 0.147111424 | -0.000487752 | 0.02490245 |
| Mar/1984 | 0.059376312 | 0.00947606 | 0.039137967 |
| Jun/1984 | 0.067389858 | 0.013764519 | 0.030189838 |
| Sep/1984 | 0.230179478 | 0.030516314 | 0.07214318 |
| Dec/1984 | 0.532740381 | 0.02916037 | 0.290439264 |
| Mar/1985 | 0.510960068 | 0.037723025 | 0.516154873 |
| Jun/1985 | 0.739637182 | 0.051359372 | 0.630456634 |
| Sep/1985 | 0.804918687 | 0.069274635 | 0.77319128 |
| Dec/1985 | 0.675852654 | 0.100444259 | 0.920750613 |
| Mar/1986 | 0.795261766 | 0.121670923 | 0.935379424 |
| Jun/1986 | 0.707164968 | 0.149400095 | 1.093680096 |
| Sep/1986 | 0.586239124 | 0.151872538 | 1.117781882 |
| Dec/1986 | 0.426497437 | 0.153494204 | 0.956402191 |
| Mar/1987 | 0.434825957 | 0.138150765 | 0.864861936 |
| Jun/1987 | 0.408784648 | 0.114072495 | 0.721066098 |
| Sep/1987 | 0.389299048 | 0.111246277 | 0.628486933 |
| Dec/1987 | 0.523627284 | 0.103268322 | 0.454720341 |
| Mar/1988 | 0.921605848 | 0.090369353 | 0.340253236 |
| Jun/1988 | 0.971221458 | 0.120466935 | 0.332385241 |
| Sep/1988 | 0.880853379 | 0.118913457 | 0.30408425 |
| Dec/1988 | 0.929516341 | 0.128233435 | 0.404020024 |
| Mar/1989 | 0.79335209 | 0.198058542 | 0.452646681 |
| Jun/1989 | 0.591536642 | 0.179589666 | 0.394033846 |
| Sep/1989 | 1.066396717 | 0.204649397 | 0.328946655 |
| Dec/1989 | 0.970667765 | 0.270311409 | 0.30972548 |
| Mar/1990 | 0.456651039 | 0.231474354 | 0.238436778 |
| Jun/1990 | 0.479465995 | 0.222312296 | 0.24968522 |
| Sep/1990 | 0.23896468 | 0.160221561 | 0.212038842 |
| Dec/1990 | 0.306336342 | 0.10711599 | 0.165350157 |
| Mar/1991 | 0.426936141 | 0.083474864 | 0.178464674 |
| Jun/1991 | 0.546769948 | 0.08019382 | 0.196133662 |
| Sep/1991 | 0.321658162 | 0.159304792 | 0.270445358 |
| Dec/1991 | 0.325847305 | 0.168050133 | 0.277502543 |
| Mar/1992 | 0.430706412 | 0.203418279 | 0.314068527 |
| Jun/1992 | 0.454539673 | 0.285257786 | 0.331107614 |
| Sep/1992 | 0.452221613 | 0.236439151 | 0.350286028 |
| Dec/1992 | 0.605894237 | 0.282081335 | 0.320605154 |
| Mar/1993 | 0.578446207 | 0.258761673 | 0.312974766 |
| Jun/1993 | 0.336746268 | 0.290588467 | 0.314620166 |
| Sep/1993 | 0.373595421 | 0.412549067 | 0.324678632 |
| Dec/1993 | 0.346342755 | 0.520984677 | 0.449575012 |
| Mar/1994 | 0.470380553 | 0.572420778 | 0.488843872 |
| Jun/1994 | 0.508903934 | 0.519856058 | 0.530466816 |
| Sep/1994 | 0.892636787 | 0.431532937 | 0.577476072 |
| Dec/1994 | 1.089585465 | 0.299770471 | 0.525317331 |
| Mar/1995 | 1.339325596 | 0.304659989 | 0.605675294 |
| Jun/1995 | 1.914959729 | 0.308802486 | 0.631669324 |
| Sep/1995 | 2.131658616 | 0.416867373 | 0.682323973 |
| Dec/1995 | 1.782851446 | 0.381907611 | 0.769066135 |
| Mar/1996 | 1.888957385 | 0.377828203 | 0.822247872 |
| Jun/1996 | 1.729869094 | 0.399364761 | 0.883702389 |
| Sep/1996 | 2.0013094 | 0.403562076 | 0.985927131 |
| Dec/1996 | 2.902867357 | 0.521511424 | 1.046735163 |
| Mar/1997 | 3.105154182 | 0.596465281 | 1.058455964 |
| Jun/1997 | 3.30764569 | 0.617412489 | 1.084614079 |
| Sep/1997 | 2.935778284 | 0.635583818 | 1.073205359 |
| Dec/1997 | 2.174083955 | 0.588499858 | 0.995821135 |
| Mar/1998 | 1.539532067 | 0.682019868 | 1.049576671 |
| Jun/1998 | 1.213977985 | 0.749997112 | 1.252162765 |
| Sep/1998 | 0.442801069 | 0.630627453 | 1.219181978 |
| Dec/1998 | 0.547689249 | 0.634389868 | 1.361768188 |
| Mar/1999 | 0.248604769 | 0.650122427 | 1.428628152 |
| Jun/1999 | -0.03940441 | 0.700395679 | 1.327399963 |
| Sep/1999 | 0.349653728 | 0.87406453 | 1.606238256 |
| Dec/1999 | -0.104553811 | 0.968538264 | 1.684878407 |
| Mar/2000 | 0.044519908 | 1.061634162 | 1.768396785 |
| Jun/2000 | -0.080435314 | 1.106945067 | 1.824673209 |
| Sep/2000 | -0.363553401 | 1.305036453 | 1.7674329 |
| Dec/2000 | -0.542838772 | 1.535544928 | 1.849863366 |
| Mar/2001 | -0.487062815 | 1.607014918 | 2.091583096 |
| Jun/2001 | -0.517933833 | 1.688396568 | 2.346720769 |
| Sep/2001 | -0.446685282 | 1.583309489 | 2.263223846 |
| Dec/2001 | 0.181042997 | 1.603610299 | 2.170433099 |
| Mar/2002 | 0.270310549 | 1.502520976 | 1.949657902 |
| Jun/2002 | 0.556538085 | 1.638002801 | 1.886827921 |
| Sep/2002 | 1.103738815 | 1.792797842 | 1.721184718 |
| Dec/2002 | 1.132280877 | 1.842537602 | 1.721350946 |
| Mar/2003 | 1.237062611 | 1.95101241 | 1.829513856 |
| Jun/2003 | 1.92156465 | 1.900383601 | 1.854452907 |
| Sep/2003 | 2.094305247 | 1.592663744 | 2.179627325 |
| Dec/2003 | 2.363109648 | 1.386881452 | 2.365512638 |
| Mar/2004 | 3.171203882 | 1.344170863 | 2.270443655 |
| Jun/2004 | 3.393173383 | 1.382518579 | 2.202689845 |
| Sep/2004 | 3.08600704 | 1.571123972 | 2.475318983 |
| Dec/2004 | 2.934740563 | 1.887396625 | 2.587201547 |
| Mar/2005 | 2.702700266 | 1.888079155 | 2.670902056 |
| Jun/2005 | 2.209664514 | 1.784605313 | 2.844986301 |
Source: U.S. Department of the Treasury