If America is in trouble, why do foreigners keep buying US assets?

⟁ DeltaSignal Briefing

America looks fragile, yet global money keeps flooding in.

Here’s the contradiction laid bare.

Foreigners keep buying U.S. assets because the U.S. is still the least-worst option. Even with political noise, fiscal stress, or growth worries, global capital hunts for relative safety, depth, and returns. U.S. markets provide all three: deep liquidity, legal protection, and outsized corporate earnings in tech.

The paradox is that rate markets are pricing recessionary cuts, yet flows show conviction in U.S. assets. The truth is somewhere in between: foreigners may doubt U.S. politics, but they doubt Europe, China, or EM stability even more. The “trouble” story doesn’t cancel the “flow” story — it defines it.

🔺 If de-dollarization is supposedly gaining traction, why are flows into U.S. assets hitting records?
Because de-dollarization is more slogan than process. The TIC data shows $1.27T in net inflows over 12 months. That’s not a system abandoning the dollar — that’s a system clinging to it.

Reserve managers may experiment with yuan or gold, but when stress rises, money seeks liquidity, convertibility, and rule of law. Only the U.S. Treasury and U.S. equity markets can absorb flows of that scale without distorting prices.

So what you’re seeing is a gap between narrative and behavior: the talk is multipolar, the money is still unipolar. The dollar doesn’t need love to stay dominant. It just needs alternatives to remain riskier.

🔺 How can rate markets be pricing in cuts if foreigners are still bullish on U.S. assets?

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