Share of U.S. Treasuries by Holder Price Sensitivity

Percentage of Treasuries outstanding

The share of price-sensitive Treasury holdings steadily increased from 24 percent in 2007 to 57 percent in 2026. During the first quantitative tightening period (QT1) from 2017 to 2019, the share of price-sensitive Treasury holdings increased by 8 percentage points. During QT2 from 2022 to 2025, the share of price-sensitive Treasury holdings increased by 17 percentage points.

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Price-sensitive holders include households, nonfinancial businesses, insurance companies, pension funds, investment funds, broker-dealers, private foreign investors, and other yield-driven buyers. Price-insensitive holders include the Federal Reserve, banks, foreign governments and central banks, and other largely yield-indifferent buyers.

Chart: Benn Steil and Yuma SchusterSource: Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED), Treasury International Capital (TIC), authors' calculations