Foreign U.S. bond buying rises for third straight month

Foreign holdings of U.S. Treasuries grew for a third straight month in July, rising to $7.087 trillion, data from the U.S. Treasury department showed on Wednesday.

Why it matters: Continued foreign buying shows that even as yields have been stuck at historic lows and Treasury issuance has skyrocketed with massive U.S. deficits to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, foreigners continue to up their buys. The strong buying trend has held even as China has cut back on its pace of bond buys from previous years and ceded its place as the top foreign holder of U.S. debt to Japan.