Russia Dumps Most US Paper Ever As China Reduces Treasurys Holdings To January 2013 Levels
Tyler Durden
Back in December, Socgen spread a rumor that [5]Russia has begun selling its gold. Subsequent IMF data showed that not only was this not correct, Russia in fact added to its gold holdings [6]. But there was one thing it was selling: some $22 billion in US Treasurys, a record 20% of its total holdings, bringing its US paper inventory to just $86 billion in December - the lowest since June 2008.
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[7]
It wasn't just Russia: the country that has ever more frequently been said to be in the same camp as Russia - and against the US - namely China, also sold another $6 billion in Treasurys in the last month of 2014, which would have made its US treasury holdings equal with those of Japan, if only Tokyo hadn't also sold over $10 billion in the same month.
[8]
And while we know that Russia used at least some of the proceeds to buy gold, the bigger question is: just what is China buying with all these stealthy USD-denominated liquidations, and how much gold does the PBOC really have as of this moment.
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