Wall Street History

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Wall Street History

11/16/2012

Holders of U.S. Treasuries

I’ve been meaning to clear a few things off the table. Call it “stuff”.

Major Foreign Holders of Treasury Securities (Aug. …latest available)

Aug. 2012 vs. Aug. 2011 (in billions of dollars)

China, Mainland Aug. 2012...1153.6 Aug. 2011…1278.5
Japan 1121.5…907.0
Oil Exporters 3/ 263.0…245.8
Carib Bnkng Ctrs 4/ 256.9…210.4
Brazil 253.9…219.2
Switzerland 202.2…157.6
Taiwan 198.0…143.5
United Kingdom 2/ 153.6…181.2
Russia 153.3…138.1
Belgium 142.6…87.1
Hong Kong 139.6…102.0
Luxembourg 131.4…114.7

2/ United Kingdom includes Channel Islands and Isle of Man.
3/ Oil Exporters include Ecuador, Venezuela, Indonesia, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Gabon, Libya, and Nigeria
4/ Caribbean Banking Centers include Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Netherlands Antilles, Panama and British Virgin Islands.

Source: Department of the Treasury / Federal Reserve Board; www.treasury.gov

*Sept. figures may be available in another week or so and I may amend this piece at that time.

New York City Tidbits

From Crain’s New York Business “2012 Stats and the City”

Theater hits of 2011-2012

Wicked $91.0
The Lion King $87.9
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark $79.0
The Book of Mormon $72.2
Jersey Boys $50.7

NY vs. North America,,,.largest ports

1. Los Angeles -6.2%
2. Long Beach, CA -16.9%
3. NY/NJ +8.1%
4. Savannah, GA +36.3%
5. Metro Port Vancouver, Canada +8.9%

Grand Central Terminal, which turns 100 in February, drew 150,000 people on its opening day in 1913. The typical weekday visitor count today is 750,000.

There are 3 million foreign-born in New York, which would make it the third-largest city in the nation.

The average hotel occupancy rate in New York City is around 85-86 percent, up 10 points from the average early last decade, 2002-03. The average room rate is $290, up from $238 at the depths of the 2009 recession. [The peak was actually 2008…$312.]

Tourism continues to rise

The numbers of domestic and international visitors to Gotham has increased in nine of the past 10 years (2009 being the exception) and will rise again this year.

The number of visitors was 35.3 million in 2002 and is projected to be 51.5 million in 2012, with a goal of 55 million (and $45 billion in direct industry spending) by 2015.

Officials believe the tourism industry will add 30,000 jobs by 2015, as well, bringing the total to more than 350,000.

The biggest gains among foreign tourists from 2006 to 2011 came from Brazil, +364.2%, and Argentina, +207.9%. The number of Irish visiting NYC fell 20.7% over the same period.

Wall Street History returns in two weeks.

Brian Trumbore

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