Canada's international transactions in securities, November 2025
Released: 2026-01-16
Foreign investors added $16.3 billion of Canadian securities to their holdings in November, following a significant investment of $46.6 billion in October. Meanwhile, Canadian investors acquired $16.5 billion of foreign securities in November, more than offsetting the divestment of $11.6 billion in October.
As a result, international transactions in securities generated a marginal net outflow of funds of $161 million from the Canadian economy in November, after a significant inflow of funds of $58.2 billion in October.
Chart 1
Canada's international transactions in securities
Sizable foreign acquisitions of Canadian private corporate debt securities
Foreign investors acquired $16.3 billion of Canadian securities in November. Foreign acquisitions of $23.8 billion in Canadian debt securities were moderated by a $7.5 billion divestment in Canadian shares.
Foreign acquisitions of Canadian debt securities in November were led by purchases of private corporate debt securities, both bonds (+$9.8 billion) and money market instruments (+$9.8 billion). Meanwhile, foreign investment in Canadian government debt securities also contributed to the activity and targeted provincial bonds (+$6.1 billion) and federal bonds (+$4.0 billion). In contrast, foreign investors reduced their exposure to both federal government paper (-$7.1 billion) and provincial government paper (-$1.9 billion). By the end of November, Canadian short-term interest rates had declined to their lowest level since June 2022, while long-term rates edged down.
Chart 2
Foreign investment in Canadian debt securities, by sector of issuer
Foreign investors reduced their holdings of Canadian equity securities by $7.5 billion in November 2025, following a $12.6 billion investment in the previous month. The activity in November was led by sales on the secondary market and, to a lesser extent, the retirement of Canadian shares resulting from mergers and acquisitions. On a sector basis, foreign investors reduced their holdings of shares mainly from the energy and mining sector, while they acquired shares from the banking sector. Both sectors were main contributors to the sizable foreign investment in Canadian shares in the previous month. By the end of November, Canadian share prices, as measured by the S&P/Toronto Stock Exchange composite index, increased by 3.7% compared with the end of October.
Chart 3
Foreign investment in Canadian equity and investment fund shares
Highest investment in non-US foreign shares since April 2022
Canadian investors acquired $16.5 billion of foreign securities in November, following a divestment of $11.6 billion in October.
The investment in November was mainly in foreign equity securities (+$15.2 billion). The activity was led by purchases of non-US shares (+$8.9 billion), mainly targeting the European market. This was the highest monthly investment in non-US shares since April 2022. In addition, Canadian investors acquired $6.3 billion of US shares in November 2025, led by shares of large capitalization technology firms. This investment almost completely offset the $6.6 billion divestment recorded in October.
Chart 4
Canadian investment in foreign equity and investment fund shares
Canadian acquisitions of foreign debt securities totalled $1.3 billion in November, mainly in non-US bonds (+$3.8 billion). Meanwhile, Canadian investors reduced their holdings of US government bonds (-$2.4 billion) and paper (-$428 million). In November, US short-term interest rates declined, while long-term interest rates increased.
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 December 2025 will be released on February 17, 2026.
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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