Fed Recovery Doubts Spur Investor Bid for Treasuries
By John Detrixhe and Daniel Kruger – Sep 24, 2012 6:48 AM ET

U.S. investors are buying Treasuries at a faster pace than foreigners for the first time since 2010, aiding the government in its efforts to borrow as total public debt outstanding rises above $16 trillion.

Government debt securities held by domestic buyers, excluding the Federal Reserve, rose 10.7 percent in the first seven months of this year to $3.61 trillion, compared with a 6.9 percent increase for countries from China to Germany, according to the latest data available from the Treasury Department and compiled by Bloomberg. Foreign purchases grew 13 percent last year, while U.S. holdings fell 4.6 percent.

Bonds have “stopped being a total-return market,” Tom Graff, who manages $3.6 billion of fixed-income assets at Brown Advisory Inc. in Baltimore, said Sept. 7 in a telephone interview. “The high degree of uncertainty has caused excess cash to build up among household assets.” As long as individuals are seeking safety rather than being “return- oriented, then no particular yield is too low,” he said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-24/fed-recovery-doubts-spur-investor-bid-for-treasuries.html

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