Canada's international transactions in securities, December 2025
Released: 2026-02-17
Canadian investors acquired $13.1 billion of foreign securities in December, led by purchases of US shares. Meanwhile, foreign investors reduced their holdings of Canadian securities by $5.6 billion, following six consecutive months of investment totalling $145.4 billion.
As a result, international transactions in securities generated a net outflow of funds of $18.6 billion from the Canadian economy in December, bringing the total outflow for the whole year to $17.4 billion.
Chart 1
Canada's international transactions in securities
Strong Canadian investment in US shares
Canadian investors acquired $13.1 billion of foreign securities in December, ending the year with a total investment of $133.8 billion.
Overall, Canadian investors purchased $22.6 billion of foreign equity securities in December, the highest level since February. The activity largely targeted US shares (+$21.7 billion), mainly shares of large capitalization technology firms. US share prices, as measured by the Standard & Poor's (S & P) 500 composite index, reached an unprecedented level by the end of 2025.
Chart 2
Canadian investment in foreign equity and investment fund shares
In December, Canadian investors sold $9.5 billion of foreign debt securities, led by sales of US government bonds (-$11.3 billion). This activity marked three consecutive monthly divestments in US government bonds in the fourth quarter for a total of $20.5 billion. Meanwhile, investors increased their holdings of US corporate bonds (+$2.7 billion) in December.
Record foreign divestment in federal government paper and corporate bonds
Foreign investors reduced their holdings of Canadian securities by $5.6 billion in December. A significant $17.6 billion divestment in debt securities was moderated by acquisitions of shares (+$12.1 billion). For the year 2025, foreign acquisitions of Canadian securities totalled $116.4 billion.
The reduction in foreign holdings of Canadian debt securities in December reflected unprecedented divestments in corporate bonds (-$22.5 billion) and federal government paper (-$14.7 billion), both due to retirements. This activity was moderated by foreign acquisitions of federal government bonds (+$12.6 billion) and, to a lesser extent, of corporate (+$4.5 billion) and provincial government (+$3.6 billion) money market instruments. By the end of December, Canadian short-term interest rates had decreased slightly to their lowest level since June 2022, while long-term rates increased.
Chart 3
Foreign investment in Canadian debt securities, by sector of issuer
Foreign investors added $12.1 billion of Canadian equity securities to their portfolio in December 2025, following a divestment of $7.7 billion in November. Foreign acquisitions targeted shares from all industries except the banking sector. Canadian share prices, as measured by the S & P/Toronto Stock Exchange composite index, rose to a record high at the end of December.
Chart 4
Foreign investment in Canadian equity and investment fund shares
Canada's cross-border portfolio investment in 2025
In a context of trade tensions and strong global stock markets performances, Canada's cross-border portfolio investment remained considerably strong in 2025. Following reductions in policy rates in 2024, central banks in major economies such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada continued to cut their rates in 2025. Specifically, the Bank of Canada policy rate decreased from 3.25% to 2.25%, while the US Federal Reserve policy rate was reduced from 4.5% to 3.75% in the year. In 2025, the Canadian dollar depreciated against most major currencies except against the US dollar.
In this context, Canadian investors increased their exposure to foreign securities by $133.8 billion in 2025, the highest level since 2021. Investment in 2025 largely targeted US corporate securities, with acquisitions of $84.2 billion in shares and $23.9 billion in corporate bonds. US share prices, as measured by the S & P 500 composite index, were up by 16.4% in 2025, following strong gains in 2023 and 2024.
Chart 5
Canadian investment in foreign securities, by type of instrument, annual
Meanwhile, foreign investors added $116.4 billion of Canadian securities to their holdings in 2025, following acquisitions totalling $193.3 billion in 2024. In 2025, the demand for Canadian securities rose sharply in the second half of the year, with foreign acquisitions totalling $139.2 billion, more than offsetting the cumulative divestment of $22.8 billion recorded in the first half of the year.
Overall, non-resident investors' acquisitions in 2025 mainly focused on Canadian private corporation bonds (+$62.2 billion) and federal government bonds (+$45.6 billion). Meanwhile, foreign investors reduced their holdings of Canadian equity securities by $19.4 billion, mostly from net retirements related to share buy-back and merger and acquisition activities (-$13.2 billion) and, to a lesser extent, secondary market sales (-$6.3 billion).
Chart 6
Foreign investment in Canadian securities by type of instrument, annual
The foreign investment pattern in Canadian shares has evolved throughout the year. Activity in the first half of 2025 began with a record divestment of $40.6 billion in the first quarter. Foreign investment strengthened significantly in the second half of the year, with foreign purchases totalling $24.6 billion, led by shares of Canadian chartered banks. Canadian share prices, as measured by the S & P/Toronto Stock Exchange composite index, were up by 28.2% in 2025, with the bulk of the gains being recorded in the second half of the year.
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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 January 2026 will be released on March 18.
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
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