Capital Account

So, don't confuse this with current account. It hates that. They're like siblings who are both actors and look kind of similar, but one (current account) is way more famous. Capital account is like the Billy Baldwin/Kate Mara in this equation.

Current account measures money moving in and out of a country as part of foreign trade...exports/imports as well as just chunks of cash getting moved. Capital account measures foreign ownership of domestic assets (as well as U.S. ownership of overseas assets). So, if a Chinese company buys the Statue of Liberty, that would get recorded in the capital account figures. But if China buys a bunch of U.S. copper to make its own statue in China, that would get recorded under current account.

The U.S. government reports these figures on a monthly basis, with people focusing on the changes over time. A positive reading for capital account on one of these monthly reports means foreigners bought more U.S. assets or U.S. companies have sold their overseas assets. Actually, there's always a mixture of both, but a positive number means more foreign buying than U.S. selling. ("Positive" here means "above zero," not necessarily "positive" meaning "good." Whether it's good or not is more of a political/philosophical decision...you're on your own on that one.)

A negative number (below zero) means either foreign holders are selling U.S. assets, or U.S. companies are increasing their holdings of foreign assets (again, we're talking on a net basis). Basically, cash is moving out of the country.

Despite tensions stemming from people mixing them up all the time, don't worry about the relationship between current account and capital account. They're cool. The two of them work with each other all the time...together, they make up a country's balance of payments.