Canada's international transactions in securities, April 2026
Released: 2026-06-16
Foreign investors acquired $46.9 billion of Canadian securities in April, led by a record investment in federal government bonds. Meanwhile, Canadian investors sold $11.4 billion of foreign securities, following five consecutive monthly investments totalling $70.3 billion.
As a result, international transactions in securities generated a net inflow of funds of $58.3 billion in the Canadian economy in April, the largest inflow since October 2025.
Chart 1
Canada's international transactions in securities
Record foreign acquisitions of federal government bonds
Foreign investors acquired $46.9 billion of Canadian securities in April, resulting in a sizable $104.0 billion investment in the first four months of 2026. In April, the foreign investment focused on bonds (+$48.6 billion) and, to a lesser extent, shares (+$5.6 billion). A divestment in money market instruments (-$7.4 billion) moderated the overall investment activity.
Non-resident investors acquired an unprecedented $38.5 billion of Canadian government bonds in April. Foreign investment in federal government bonds reached a record $27.7 billion, for a total of $47.8 billion so far in 2026. While US investors were the main contributor to the investment activity in federal bonds in April, increased purchases from Asian and European investors also contributed. In addition, foreign investors acquired $10.6 billion of provincial government bonds in April, their largest investment since January 2025. In April 2026, they also added $10.2 billion of corporate bonds to their holdings, led by instruments issued by financial institutions.
Chart 2
Foreign investment in Canadian bonds, by sector of issuer
In contrast, non-resident investors continued to reduce their exposure to Canadian money market instruments with a divestment of $7.4 billion in April, bringing the cumulative divestment to $21.2 billion since the beginning of the year. The divestment in April largely targeted private corporate paper and was moderated by acquisitions of federal government paper.
Foreign investors increased their holdings of Canadian equity securities by $5.6 billion in April, following two consecutive monthly divestments. By sector, foreign acquisitions mainly targeted shares of the energy and mining sector (+$5.3 billion), mostly through secondary market transactions. Canadian share prices, as measured by the Standard & Poor's (S&P)/Toronto Stock Exchange composite index, rose 3.7% in April.
Chart 3
Foreign investment in Canadian equity and investment fund shares
Canadian investors sell foreign securities from their portfolios
Canadian investors reduced their exposure to foreign securities by $11.4 billion in April, the first divestment since October 2025. The reduction was in both bonds and shares.
Canadian divestment in foreign bonds amounted to $8.4 billion in April 2026 and targeted non-US foreign bonds (-$5.9 billion) and US government bonds (-$3.0 billion). From January to April, Canadian investors reduced their holdings of US government bonds by a significant $20.8 billion, compared with acquisitions totalling $19.6 billion during the same period in 2025.
Chart 4
Canadian investment in foreign bonds
Canadian investors decreased their holdings of foreign equity securities by $3.0 billion in April. Despite the growth in US share prices, as measured by the S&P 500 composite index, investors sold $1.6 billion of US shares, mainly shares of large capitalization technology firms. Similarly, they divested $1.4 billion in non-US shares, mainly European shares.
Chart 5
Canadian investment in foreign equity and investment fund shares
Note to readers
The data series on international transactions in securities covers portfolio transactions in equity and investment fund shares, bonds and money market instruments for both Canadian and foreign issues. This activity excludes transactions in equity and debt instruments between affiliated enterprises. These are classified as foreign direct investment in international accounts.
Equity and investment fund shares include common and preferred equities, as well as units or shares of investment funds. For the sake of brevity, the terms "shares" and "equity and investment fund shares" have the same meaning.
Debt securities include bonds and money market instruments.
Bonds have an original term to maturity of more than one year.
Money market instruments have an original term to maturity of one year or less.
Government of Canada paper includes Treasury bills and US-dollar Canada bills.
All values in this release are net transactions unless otherwise stated.
Next release
Data on Canada's international transactions in securities for May 2026 will be released on July 17.
Products
The International trade statistics portal is available on Statistics Canada website.
As a complement to this release, the data visualization product "Securities statistics," part of the series Statistics Canada – Data Visualization Products (71-607-X), is available online.
The User Guide: Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts (13-606-G) is also available.
The Methodological Guide: Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts (13-607-X) is available.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
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