The U.S. Federal Reserve's holdings of the government debt on behalf of central bankers and institutional investors outside the country has plunged $76.5 billion in the last seven weeks. [Photo/CNS]
International central banks are selling the most U.S. Treasuries since the credit crisis began just as institutional investors load up on U.S. government bonds, Bloomberg reported.
The U.S. Federal Reserve's holdings of the government debt on behalf of central bankers and institutional investors outside the country has plunged $76.5 billion in the last seven weeks, the most since August 2007, according to statistics of the Federal Reserve.
At the same time, bond mutual funds are adding Treasuries, banks have increased their holdings 45 percent in the past five years and the Federal Reserve has loaded up $656 billion of government bonds this year.
Decline in holding of US government bonds by international central banks may have more to do with supporting their currencies after the Brazilian real weakened 11 percent and Taiwan's dollar lost 4.4 percent against the U.S. dollar since June, said analysts.
The decline in international holdings of U.S. bonds has also been attributed to progress on a plan that may provide more funds for European bailouts while imposing write-downs on Greek bonds.
