China and other countries buy US Treasury debt

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - China boosted its holdings of U.S. Treasury debt for the second straight month as total foreign holdings of U.S. government debt increased.

That development should help ease concerns that lagging foreign demand will force the U.S. government to pay higher interest rates to finance its debt.

The Treasury Department says China's holdings of U.S. Treasury securities rose by $5 billion to $900.2 billion in April. Total foreign holdings rose by $72.8 billion to $3.96 trillion.