Norges Bank proposes $80B cut in US Treasury holdings

Norway’s $2.3 trillion sovereign wealth fund just told the world it wants to dump roughly $80 billion worth of US Treasuries. In a letter sent Tuesday to Norway’s finance ministry, Norges Bank Investment Management proposed slashing the government bond allocation in its benchmark index from 70% to 50%, a move that would ripple across the world’s deepest and most liquid debt market. The proposal would reduce the fund’s US government bond weighting from 34.1% to 21.9%. What NBIM actually wants to change The fund currently holds approximately $215 billion in US Treasury securities, according to data as of the end of June 2026. The proposed $80 billion reduction represents a cut of about 37% of that position. The freed-up capital wouldn’t leave the US entirely. NBIM wants to redirect it into non-government US fixed-income assets: agency mortgage-backed securities, corporate bonds, and government-related debt. The fund’s non-government fixed income allocation would rise from 16.2% to 27.6%. Norges Bank Governor Ida Wolden Bache and NBIM CEO Nicolai Tangen argued that keeping 50% in government bonds still meets the fund’s liquidity needs during market stress, while opening the door to be...