Japan Dumps US Debt In Longest Streak Since June 2013

As you’re no doubt aware, Japanese investors have been dumping US debt.

“Data from Japan’s Ministry of Finance confirmed this past week that Japanese investors sold around ¥1.3 trillion ($11.52 billion) in foreign bonds between Jan. 21 and Jan. 28, taking net sales for the past 12 weeks to more than ¥3.7 trillion, the largest amount since April 2014,”
WSJ wrote “way” back in January.

Here’s a snapshot from last month broken down by investor type:

Flows

(Deutsche Bank)

Well, just moments ago, we got the latest data from the Japanese MoF and guess what? Via Bloomberg:

Japanese investors sold a net 1.69t yen ($14.8b) of U.S. sovereign debt in January, a third month they have cut their holdings, according to data from the Asian nation’s finance ministry and central bank.

That’s the longest streak of net sales since June 2013

Sovereign debt includes bonds with original maturities of more than a year that are issued by govt, govt agencies and local govts

Meanwhile, we also got final Q4 GDP and balance of payments data out of Japan. Here’s the breakdown:

JAPAN 4Q GDP ROSE 0.3% Q/Q; EST. 0.4%

JAPAN JAN. CURRENT ACCOUNT 65.5B YEN; EST. 270.0B

JAPAN 4Q GDP ROSE 1.2% ON ANNUALIZED BASIS; EST. 1.5%

Watch the yen and rates overnight.