Canadian investors acquired $27.2 billion of foreign securities in February, led by a record investment in US equity securities, which more than offset the significant divestment in these instruments in January. Meanwhile, foreign investors reduced their exposure to Canadian securities by $6.5 billion, led by the highest monthly divestment in the Canadian equity market since October 2007.
As a result, international transactions in securities generated a net outflow of funds of $33.6 billion from the Canadian economy in February. This follows two consecutive months of strong inflows of funds totalling $21.2 billion.
Chart 1: Canada's international transactions in securities
Description - Chart 1
Data table: Canada's international transactions in securities
Source: Table 36-10-0028-01.
Unprecedented Canadian investment in US shares
Canadian investors increased their exposure to foreign securities by $27.2 billion in February, compared with a $3.0 billion divestment in January. The rebound in investment was essentially in US shares.
Note to readers
The data series on international transactions in securities covers portfolio transactions in equity and investment fund shares, bonds and money market instruments for both Canadian and foreign issues. This activity excludes transactions in equity and debt instruments between affiliated enterprises. These are classified as foreign direct investment in international accounts.
Equity and investment fund shares include common and preferred equities, as well as units or shares of investment funds. For the sake of brevity, the terms "shares" and "equity and investment fund shares" have the same meaning.
Debt securities include bonds and money market instruments.
Bonds have an original term to maturity of more than one year.
Money market instruments have an original term to maturity of one year or less.
Government of Canada paper includes Treasury bills and US-dollar Canada bills.
All values in this release are net transactions unless otherwise stated.
Contact information
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