Foreign demand for long-term U.S. assets seems to be slowing down. The nation’s two largest debt holders, Japan and China, trimmed their holdings of U.S. Treasuries sending the net purchase of stocks, bonds, and notes purchased by all foreigners down to $11.2 billion in April from $55.4 billion in March, reports Martin Crutsinger of the Associated Press. As the United States continues to need more money from foreign investors to fight the recession and rebuild an ailing economy, a weak interest in U.S. assets could potentially send interest rates up.
Overall, the U.S. markets followed all other global markets by trading down. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 2.3%, the S&P 500 declined by nearly 2.5% and the Nasdaq tumbled by 2.8% in morning trading.
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Kevin Grewal contributed to this article.
