Foreign holdings of US Treasury securities drop in July

WASHINGTON (AP) — Foreign holdings of U.S. Treasury securities fell again in July as China, the biggest foreign owner of U.S. government debt, cut back its holdings.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew has been employing emergency measures to keep the government's total borrowing beneath the current debt ceiling of $18.1 trillion.

In August 2011, Standard & Poor's downgraded the nation's credit rating for the first time in history because of a prolonged standoff over passing a new debt limit.