Capital flowing out of US
http://www.straitstimes.com/Money/St...ry_274336.html
Sep 2, 2008 Tuesday
Capital flowing out of US
FRANKFURT: Global banks have been funnelling more funds out of the United States than into it since market turmoil erupted in August last year, according to a study by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).
It said that from 2000 to the middle of last year, global banks funnelled over US$1 trillion (S$1.4 trillion) more into the US across their balance sheets than they withdrew.
But since the middle of last year, banks have sent about US$321 billion more out of the US than they sent in.
The data suggests that foreign banks hungry for dollars could be sending funds from US branches to their offices abroad, while global lending to US non-financial firms has begun flattening after years of growth, said the Wall Street Journal on its website yesterday.
The BIS also found that prices of a key index banks use to gauge sub-prime-related losses have been dampened partly by factors that have little to do with the risk of mortgage defaulters.
The BIS report could add to growing concern about how markets measure the severity of mortgage-debt problems, the Journal reported.