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This section presents a chart of the 100 largest foreign investments in 1987 in the U.S. The U.S. Department of Commerce reported 195 billion dollars in total overseas investments, including bank deposits and purchased U.S. Treasury bonds and corporate bonds. Foreign companies discussed include Canadian chemical firm Seagram Co. Ltd.; British Petroleum PLC; and German electronics company Siemens AG.

The article examines government securities prices. Yields on U.S. Treasury bonds are at historic lows of less than one percent as investors have sought a safe haven during the financial crisis. Government securities yields have begun to rise in early 2009, however, as the spread between those rates and the returns offered by stock dividends and corporate bonds grew to levels of over 3 percent.

The article presents information on the U.S. financial market. It is noted that compared with Treasury bonds, yields on corporate debt have shot up to levels not seen since before the 1987 stockmarket crash or, before that, the 1930s depression. In part, corporate bonds look so cheap because Treasury bonds are in short supply and hence so dear. It is informed that mutual funds that specialise in corporate bonds have done badly of late.