Reply #103: Foreign central banks boost U.S. debt holdings-Fed [View All]

[EuroObserver]

http://yahoo.reuters.com/financeQuoteCompanyNewsArticle.jhtml?duid=mtfh92039_2006-01-19_21-30-54_nat001966_newsml
Thu Jan 19, 2006 04:30 PM ET
NEW YORK, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Foreign central banks were net buyers of U.S. debt in the latest week, with purchases of agency securities slightly offsetting a decline in Treasury holdings, Federal Reserve data showed on Thursday.

The Fed said its overall holdings of Treasury and agency debt kept for overseas central banks rose $562 million in the week ended Jan. 18, to stand at $1.536 trillion.

The breakdown of custody holdings showed overseas central banks sold $1.819 billion in debt issued by the Treasury, but bought $2.382 billion in securities from government-sponsored agencies like Fannie Mae (FNM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Freddie Mac (FRE.N: Quote, Profile, Research) .

Overseas central banks, particularly those in Asia, have been huge buyers of U.S. debt in recent years. They own over a quarter of marketable Treasuries.

The full Fed report can be found on:

http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h41/
/more...

How long can this go on?