Foreign investors bought more than $800 billion worth of US equities over the past year, the largest such inflow ever recorded. Norway, Singapore and South Korea led the buying in 2025, while mainland China was a net seller, and private investors — not sovereign funds — drove most of the purchases.
Foreign investors have purchased over $800 billion worth of US equities over the past year, the largest foreign inflow into American stocks ever recorded. That level of buying signals global confidence in US markets even tariff uncertainty couldn't dent, according to the report.
Norway, Singapore and South Korea lead the buying
Net purchases hit $720.1 billion in 2025, a 134% increase from the $307.5 billion recorded in 2024. That jump raises a natural question about sustainability, since growth rates like that rarely persist indefinitely.
Norway led all buyers with $81.8 billion in net purchases during 2025, followed by Singapore at $79 billion and South Korea at $73.6 billion. Mainland China moved the other way, offloading $34.1 billion in US stocks, a sale that fits a pattern of gradual financial decoupling between the world's two largest economies.
Private buyers, not sovereign funds, drive the surge
Private foreign investors, rather than sovereign entities or central banks, accounted for the bulk of the purchases. In June 2026 alone, private foreign buyers made $144.7 billion in net equity purchases — nearly half of what foreign investors bought across all of 2024, compressed into a single month.
A preliminary Treasury survey put total foreign holdings of US equities at $19.843 trillion as of June 30, 2025. Treasury's International Capital data corroborates the trend: the 2025 annual total for foreign equity purchases was the highest in at least a decade, and the momentum has clearly carried into 2026.
Source: Crypto Briefing
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