With everyone expecting "Belgian" US Treasury holdings to surge by another inexplicable double-digit billion amount, and surpass $400 billion in what has been the most aggressive, and secretive, accumulation of TSYs by an unknown third-party using the Belgian jurisdiction as venue via Euroclear, the April holdings of the small European country posted their first drop since August. According to the TIC data released moments ago, total "Belgium" holdings - the third largest after China and Japan - declined by $15 billion in April, to a new grand total of $366 billion.
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Offsetting this drop, almost to the penny, was the first increase in Russian paper which after posting its largest decline in history in March for reasons well-known, saw a $16 billion increase from its cycle lows of just $100. Still, this was a 22% decline from Russia's holding as of a year ago. Furthermore, considering the deterioration in relations between Russia and the US since April, it would not surprise anyone if this blip in Russian TSY holdings is quite transitory, and the May data shows that Russian holdings have already dipped into double digit range.
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Finally, looking at the top two holders of US paper, Chinese holdings declined from $1272.1 to $1263.2, the lowest Chinese total holdings since February 2013, which once again was offset almost to the dollar by Japan, whose holdings increased by $10 billion to $1209.7 billion - just shy of the insolvent island's largest US paper holdings on record.
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