WASHINGTON -- Foreign demand for long-term U.S. financial assets fell in July, but China boosted its holdings, the Treasury Department said Wednesday.
Japan and the U.K. also increased their holdings, but other countries such as Russia, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and Ireland scaled back, as did a group of oil exporters.
Foreigners purchased $15.3 billion more assets than they sold in July. Still, that is a steep decline from June, when they purchased $90.7 billion more than they sold.
The Treasury is auctioning record amounts of debt to cover a budget deficit it estimates will hit $1.58 trillion this year. Some economists worry that if overseas buyers don't keep buying U.S. debt, interest rates could rise.
China, the largest foreign holder of U.S. Treasury securities, boosted its holdings to $800.5 billion, from $776.4 billion in June.
Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. senior currency strategist Win Thin saw good news in the Treasury report. "Bottom line: the big global reserve managers (with the possible exception of Russia) are not dumping USD assets on a sustained basis," he wrote in a research note. "China and Japan holdings are sometimes volatile on a month to month basis, but the upward trend in [U.S. Treasury] holdings is unmistakable, despite China's sporadic warnings about the dollar."
Japan, the second-largest holder of Treasury securities, increased its holdings to $724.5 billion in July from $711.8 billion in June. And the U. K., the third-largest holder of Treasurys, increased its holdings to $220 billion from $214 billion.
Russian holdings fell 1.6%, to $118 billion from $119.9 billion.
Foreign governments purchased $15.8 billion of Treasury bonds and notes, the department said, after buying $22.5 billion in June. Overseas governments sold $7.2 billion in bonds issued by mortgage giants Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and government agencies. That is more than the $5.9 billion they sold a month earlier.
For U.S. equities, net foreign purchases totaled $28.6 billion in July, compared with purchases of $19.1 billion the previous month.