Treasury International Capital - TIC

Select groups of capital which are monitored with regards to their international movement. Treasury international capital is used as an economic indicator that tracks the flow of Treasury and agency securities, as well as corporate bonds and equities, into and out of the United States. TIC data is important to investors, especially with the increasing amount of foreign participation in the U.S. financial markets.

As demand for U.S. financial instruments increases, the value of the dollar is held up. This is because demand for U.S. dollars increases as they are needed to purchase U.S. securities. Strong demand also places downward pressure on interest rates.

Because this data can have a direct effect on interest rates and the value of the dollar, and because foreign ownership of U.S. debt is more prevalent than foreign ownership of U.S. equities, this data seems to have a larger effect on the bond markets than on the stock markets.