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Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Peter Dierks who wrote (32863)	2/17/2009 1:04:17 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 71588

Re: "Japan's Downturn Is Bad News for the World... The U.S. can't count on Japanese savers" I would say that Mr. Auslin is --- at least right now --- is probably very WRONG about that. FOREX inflows are increasing into the US right now... the Dollar and US sovereign debt is rising in value... (and, FYI --- Japanese savers are sending more and more of their savings overseas now, with the US and China being the two biggest destinations. Yen denominated savings vehicles right now pay less then zero in real terms.... :-( That is, unless their national rate of inflation has completely drifted off into DEflation now. (In which case Yen denominated savings probably pay an ever-so-slight tricle of yield... but sub-1% still without doubt.) No, the global financial panic is still accelerating downwards... and the US is the single 'safe harbor' destination for all that scared foreign money. (With China --- having stimulated even more then the US per-capita, and still posting respectable growth rates, being the sole other destination for hot money.) With the Euroland banks possibly five times worse off than American banks are... the fear is palpable right now: Message 25419567 (And, IMHO, the US should take maximum advantage of this one slim, silver lining in this global cloud of doom and gloom --- we should shove our sovereign issues out the door just as fast as we can right now, taking advantage of a situation where 'everyone' 'must' buy dollars and Dollar debt.) Because... no situation lasts forever. But, right now: 'U.S. can't count on Japanese savers'??????? The guy is TRIPPIN'! The very last place that Japanese want to invest or save right now is Japan! :-)

To: Peter Dierks who wrote (32863)	2/17/2009 3:42:32 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 71588

FYI ---- (Panic starting to drive foreigners to US paper) ---- December foreign investment in US turns positive By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER – 3 hours ago google.com WASHINGTON (AP) — Overseas demand for U.S. financial assets rebounded in December after dropping for the prior two months, the Treasury Department said Tuesday. Foreign governments and private investors in December purchased a net total of $34.8 billion in long-term securities held in the U.S., the department said in a monthly report. That's after two months of net sales by foreigners, totaling $25.6 billion in November and $400 million in October. The United States needs large amounts of foreign capital to finance its trade deficit, which stood at $677.1 billion in 2008. That was down from $700.3 billion in 2007 and the second annual decline after five consecutive increases in the deficit. For all of 2008, net long-term purchases of financial assets by foreigners totaled $514.6 billion, down from $776.6 billion in 2007. Long-term investments are securities one year or longer in duration. Long-term and short-term net investments last year totaled $597.8 billion, down from $616.7 billion in 2007. That figure doesn't include fixed investment in U.S. property, factories and other direct investment. The December increase in foreign investment largely occurred in Treasury securities and corporate bonds, the government's report showed. Net overseas buying of Treasury bonds and notes rose to $15 billion in December, from net sales of $25.8 billion in November. Foreigners also showed much greater appetite for U.S. corporate bonds, buying up $41 billion worth. That's after five months of net sales by overseas investors. Foreigners continued to dump securities issued by mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and other government agencies such as Ginnie Mae. Net sales of agency debt by overseas investors totaled about $37.5 billion in December, the fifth month out of the last six in which investors have sold off the agencies' debt. China remains the biggest overseas holder of U.S. securities with $696.2 billion, up $14.3 billion from November. Japan is second with $578.3 billion, the report said, followed by the United Kingdom at $355 billion.