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EMBARGOED UNTIL RELEASE AT 8:30 a.m. EST, Thursday, December 28, 2023

BEA 23—66

U.S. International Investment Position, 3rd Quarter 2023

The U.S. net international investment position, the difference between U.S. residents' foreign financial assets and liabilities, was –$18.16 trillion at the end of the third quarter of 2023, according to statistics released today by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). Assets totaled $32.91 trillion, and liabilities were $51.07 trillion. At the end of the second quarter, the net investment position was –$18.14 trillion (revised). The net investment position and components of assets and liabilities are presented in table 1.

U.S. Net International Investment Position: End of quarter, not seasonally adjusted

U.S. Assets and Liabilities: End of quarter, not seasonally adjusted

The –$15.5 billion change in the net investment position from the second quarter to the third quarter came from net financial transactions of –$121.9 billion and net other changes in position, such as price and exchange-rate changes, of $106.4 billion (table A).

Table A. Quarterly Change in the U.S. Net International Investment Position
[Billions of dollars, not seasonally adjusted]

	End of quarter position, 2023:Q2	Change in position in 2023:Q3			End of quarter position, 2023:Q3
		Total	Attributable to:
		Total	Financial transactions	Other changes in position ¹
U.S. net international investment position	–18,144.7	–15.5	–121.9	106.4	–18,160.1
Net position excluding financial derivatives	–18,172.3	–51.1	–122.9	71.8	–18,223.4
Financial derivatives other than reserves, net	27.7	35.7	1.1	34.6	63.3
U.S. assets	33,511.9	–606.6	(²)	(²)	32,905.3
Assets excluding financial derivatives	31,029.1	–707.3	341.0	–1,048.3	30,321.8
Financial derivatives other than reserves	2,482.8	100.7	(²)	(²)	2,583.5
U.S. liabilities	51,656.6	–591.1	(²)	(²)	51,065.4
Liabilities excluding financial derivatives	49,201.4	–656.2	464.0	–1,120.1	48,545.2
Financial derivatives other than reserves	2,455.2	65.0	(²)	(²)	2,520.2
1. Disaggregation of other changes in position into price changes, exchange-rate changes, and other changes in volume and valuation is presented for annual statistics released in March and revised in June each year. 2. Financial transactions and other changes in financial derivatives positions are available on a net basis; they are not separately available for U.S. assets and U.S. liabilities. U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis

U.S. Assets by Category: End of quarter, not seasonally adjusted

U.S. Liabilities by Category: End of quarter, not seasonally adjusted

U.S. assets decreased by $606.6 billion to a total of $32.91 trillion at the end of the third quarter, reflecting decreases in direct investment and portfolio investment assets that were partly offset by increases in other investment assets and financial derivatives.

Direct investment assets decreased by $449.1 billion to $9.84 trillion and portfolio investment assets decreased by $388.2 billion to $14.42 trillion, driven mainly by foreign stock price decreases and the depreciation of foreign currencies against the U.S. dollar that lowered the market value of these assets in dollar terms.

In contrast, other investment assets increased by $143.9 billion to $5.34 trillion, driven by increases in loans. Financial derivatives increased by $100.7 billion to $2.58 trillion, driven by increases in single-currency interest rate contracts and foreign exchange contracts.

U.S. liabilities decreased by $591.1 billion to a total of $51.07 trillion at the end of the third quarter, reflecting decreases in direct investment and portfolio investment liabilities that were partly offset by increases in other investment liabilities and financial derivatives.

Direct investment liabilities decreased by $436.6 billion to $13.58 trillion and portfolio investment liabilities decreased by $386.5 billion to $26.52 trillion, driven mainly by U.S. stock price decreases that lowered the market value of these liabilities; U.S. bond price decreases also contributed to the decrease in portfolio investment liabilities.

In contrast, other investment liabilities increased by $166.9 billion to $8.45 trillion, driven by increases in loans. Financial derivatives increased by $65.0 billion to $2.52 trillion, driven by increases in single-currency interest rate contracts and foreign exchange contracts.

Table B. Updates to Second-Quarter 2023 International Investment Position Aggregates
[Trillions of dollars, not seasonally adjusted]

	Preliminary estimates	Revised estimates
			U.S. net international investment position	–18.00	–18.14
			U.S. assets	33.58	33.51
U.S. liabilities	51.58	51.66
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis

U.S. International Investment Position Release Dates in 2024

4th Quarter and Year 2023	March 27
1st Quarter 2024 and Annual Update	June 26
2nd Quarter 2024	September 25
3rd Quarter 2024	December 27

Next release: March 27, 2024, at 8:30 a.m. EDT
U.S. International Investment Position, 4th Quarter and Year 2023

Full Release & Tables (PDF)

Tables Only (Excel)

Release Highlights (PDF)

U.S. Direct Investment Abroad Statistics

Foreign Direct Investment in the United States Statistics

Technical

Elena Nguyen

301-278-9555

Elena.Nguyen@bea.gov

Direct Investment

Doug Weinberg

301-278-9590

Douglas.Weinberg@bea.gov

Media

Connie O’Connell

301-278-9003

Connie.OConnell@bea.gov

Resources

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Historical time series for these estimates can be accessed in BEA's Interactive Data Application.
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For more on BEA's statistics, see our online journal, the Survey of Current Business.
For upcoming economic indicators, see BEA's news release schedule.
More information on the International Investment Position Accounts and a description of the estimation methods used to compile them is provided in U.S. International Economic Accounts: Concepts and Methods.

Definitions

The international investment position (IIP) is a statistical balance sheet that presents the dollar value of U.S. financial assets and liabilities with respect to foreign residents at a specific point in time. BEA presents IIP statistics at the end of a quarter or year (March, June, September, and December). For the March and June releases, BEA also presents statistics on changes in the yearend position that are disaggregated into financial transactions, price changes, exchange-rate changes, and changes in volume and valuation not included elsewhere (n.i.e.).

The U.S. net IIP is defined as the value of U.S. assets less the value of U.S. liabilities.

Financial transactions are transactions between U.S. residents and nonresidents in financial assets and liabilities. They are also recorded in the financial account of the International Transactions Accounts (ITAs). See "Related statistics" below.

Other changes in position are changes in the value of U.S. assets or liabilities arising from any source besides a financial transaction. Other changes in position include price changes, exchange-rate changes, and changes in volume and valuation n.i.e.

Price changes (only presented for annual statistics in the March and June news releases) are changes in the value of an asset or liability due to changes in the market price of a financial instrument.

Exchange-rate changes (only presented for annual statistics in the March and June news releases) are changes in the value of foreign-currency-denominated assets and liabilities due to changes in the values of foreign currencies relative to the value of the U.S. dollar.

Changes in volume and valuation n.i.e. (only presented for annual statistics in the March and June news releases) reflect changes in position due to year-to-year shifts in the composition of reporting panels, the incorporation of more comprehensive annual and benchmark survey results, and revaluations (holding gains and losses) on assets and liabilities that are not explained by price changes or exchange-rate changes.

Functional categories are the primary classification system used in the IIP Accounts and in the financial account of the ITAs. The five functional categories are direct investment, portfolio investment, financial derivatives other than reserves, other investment, and reserve assets. While the functional categories are based on features that are relevant for understanding cross-border financial transactions and positions, they also take into account some aspects of the relationship between transactors and the economic motivation for the investment. Within the functional categories, the IIP Accounts are classified by type of financial instrument.

Direct investment is a category of cross-border investment associated with a resident in one economy having control or a significant degree of influence on the management of an enterprise resident in another economy. Ownership or control of 10 percent or more of the voting securities of an entity in another economy is the threshold for separating direct investment from other types of investment. Direct investment positions include positions in equity and debt instruments. BEA's IIP statistics feature the market value measure of direct investment positions, a measure that values owners' equity at current-period prices using indexes of stock market prices.

Portfolio investment consists of cross-border positions involving equity and investment fund shares and debt securities, excluding those included in direct investment or reserve assets. Debt securities are classified by original maturity (short term versus long term at the time of issue).

Financial derivatives other than reserves consist of cross-border positions arising from financial contracts that are linked to underlying financial instruments, commodities, or indicators. Positions in financial derivatives consist of contracts with positive and negative fair values. A contract with a positive fair value is a U.S. asset and represents the amount that a foreign resident would have to pay to a U.S. counterparty if the contract were terminated or settled. A contract with a negative fair value is a U.S. liability and represents the amount that a U.S. resident would have to pay to a foreign counterparty if the contract were terminated or settled. The gross positive (negative) fair value is the sum across all contracts with positive (negative) fair values. Fair values differ from notional values, which are the underlying amounts used to calculate payments on contracts. Gross positive and gross negative fair values for financial derivatives positions are available separately in table 1. However, transactions and other changes in financial derivatives positions are only available for the net position in financial derivatives. For other changes in position for financial derivatives, statistics are not separately available for price changes, exchange rate changes, and changes in volume and valuation n.i.e.

Other investment includes cross-border positions other than those included in direct investment, portfolio investment, financial derivatives, and reserve assets. Other investment positions consist of positions in other equity (equity not in the form of securities), currency and deposits, loans, insurance technical reserves, trade credit and advances, and, for liabilities, special drawing rights allocations.

Reserve assets are those external assets that are readily available to and controlled by U.S. monetary authorities for meeting balance-of-payments financing needs, for intervention in exchange markets to affect the currency exchange rate, and for other related purposes such as maintaining confidence in the currency and the economy and serving as a basis for foreign borrowing. The major published components are monetary gold, International Monetary Fund (IMF) special drawing rights, reserve position in the IMF, and other reserve assets.

Release and update schedule

Preliminary quarterly IIP statistics are released in March, June, September, and December, approximately 90 days after the end of the reference quarter. These statistics are updated the following quarter to incorporate new and revised source data. Quarterly statistics are open for revision for at least the prior 3 years in annual updates released in June. Preliminary annual statistics are released in March reflecting positions at the end of the fourth quarter of the previous year. These annual statistics are open for revision for at least the prior 3 years in subsequent annual updates.

Related statistics

The IIP statistics comprise one part of a broader set of U.S. International Economic Accounts that, taken together, provide a comprehensive, integrated, and detailed picture of U.S. international economic activities.

The ITA statistics are released quarterly. Financial transactions reported in the financial account of the ITAs are one type of change in position recorded in the IIP. Financial transactions are transactions between U.S. residents and nonresidents for direct investment, portfolio investment, other investment, reserve assets, and financial derivatives.

Statistics on direct investment and multinational enterprises (MNEs) include annual statistics on the activities of U.S. MNEs and U.S. affiliates of foreign MNEs, detailed annual and quarterly statistics on direct investment, and annual statistics on new foreign direct investment in the United States.

Statistics on international services include detailed annual information on trade in services and on services supplied through the channel of direct investment by affiliates of MNEs.

"U.S. international trade in goods and services" released by BEA and the U.S. Census Bureau, provides monthly statistics on trade in goods and services.