Invest & Profit

The Commerce Department last week reported that U.S. business is fast becoming history's most prolific foreign investor. In 1956 U.S. private investments abroad jumped by a record $3.9 billion to $33 billion, three times more than the total investment in the domestic steel industry. American companies directly invested $2.8 billion in their foreign subsidiaries, a full $1.1 billion more than in 1955. Half of it went into the oil business, which also accounts for the biggest part of total U.S. investment abroad ($7.2 billion), but manufacturing investments rose by $739 million, while mining and public utilities also made big advances.

As usual the Western Hemisphere attracted the most dollars--$1.8 billion--yet Europe got $500 million in new investments, will probably get more this year as U.S. companies hurry to build plants in expectation of a tariff-free Common European Market.

All told, U.S. holdings abroad stand second only to Britain's prewar peak. In terms of today's inflated dollars, Britain's investment of $21 billion in 1938 would be worth some $42 billion. But with foreign investments increasing at the rate of $4.4 billion this year, the U.S. should soon surpass that record. In return for their dollars, said Commerce, U.S. businessmen pocketed $3.4 billion in earnings on foreign holdings last year for more than a 10% return on investment.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.