Canada's international transactions in securities, April 2025
Released: 2025-06-17
Canadian investors acquired $4.1 billion of foreign securities in April, led by the highest investment in US government bonds since November 2023. Meanwhile, foreign investors reduced their exposure to Canadian securities by $9.4 billion in April 2025, led by the highest monthly divestment in Canadian bonds since December 2018.
As a result, international transactions in securities generated a net outflow of funds of $13.5 billion from the Canadian economy in April. This marked the third consecutive month of net outflows, bringing the total to $67.6 billion.
Chart 1
Canada's international transactions in securities
Global markets were very volatile in April in the context of rising tariff tensions. By the end of the month, US share prices, as measured by the Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 composite index, and Canadian share prices, as measured by the S&P/Toronto Stock Exchange composite index, had both decreased slightly compared with the end of March.
In April, the Canadian dollar appreciated by 3.9% against the US dollar. US short- and long-term interest rates remained stable and were higher than the Canadian rates.
Canadian investors acquire US government instruments
Canadian investors increased their exposure to foreign securities by $4.1 billion in April. This was down compared with a $15.6 billion investment in March and a sizable $23.9 billion investment in February. In April, investors targeted US government instruments, while reducing their exposure to US shares.
Canadian investors bought $9.2 billion of US government bonds in April, the largest investment since November 2023. In addition, investors purchased $1.1 billion of US Treasury bills in April 2025. These acquisitions were moderated by sales of US corporate bonds and non-US foreign bonds.
Chart 2
Canadian investment in foreign bonds
Meanwhile, Canadian investors slightly reduced their holdings of foreign shares by $0.2 billion in April. This activity reflected a decrease in holdings of US shares (-$0.3 billion), which was moderated by an increase in non-US foreign shares (+$0.1 billion).
Foreign investors reduce their exposure to Canadian bonds
Foreign investors reduced their holdings of Canadian securities by $9.4 billion in April, a third consecutive monthly divestment. Foreign investors reduced their exposure to Canadian bonds and acquired money market instruments and equity securities in the month.
Non-resident investors reduced their exposure to Canadian bonds by $25.1 billion in April, the highest monthly divestment since December 2018. The foreign divestment in April 2025 was driven by retirements of bonds, mainly bonds with an original maturity of 2 to 10 years. The reduction in non-resident holdings was mostly in private corporate bonds (-$17.3 billion), followed by provincial government bonds (-$7.1 billion) and federal government bonds (-$2.5 billion). This divestment followed a significant $52.3 billion investment in the first quarter, mainly in private corporate bonds and on the strength of new issues.
Chart 3
Foreign investment in Canadian bonds, by sector of issuer
At the same time, non-resident investors acquired $11.6 billion of Canadian shares in April, following a significant $40.6 billion divestment in the first three months of 2025. On a sector basis, acquisitions in April were widespread, led by shares from the energy and mining, credit intermediation and related activities as well as management of companies and enterprises industries.
Chart 4
Foreign investment in Canadian equity and investment fund shares
The foreign investment in Canadian money market instruments in April (+$4.1 billion) targeted mainly federal government paper (+$10.3 billion) and was moderated by a divestment of $5.3 billion in corporate paper.
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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 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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