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.
Related or Semi-related Video
Finance: What is a Hard Asset?12 Views
Finance allah shmoop What is Ah hard asset Yeah It
takes a lot of hard work to get an asset
like that Okay So hard asset is just one that
you can bang on touch Engage with cell Alright examples
Oil it's Hard asset gold Hard of vintage nineteen Fifty
seven Ferrari with beige leather interior hard four thousand head
of longhorn cattle in texas A commercial building in the
best part of town All of these arm or less
commodities Hard assets Well okay Okay The categories Rare cars
art coins stamps stuff like that that's where they fit
So what do you care if something is ah hard
asset or a soft one Well most or all hard
assets are commodities and they generally do very well in
periods of very high inflation when you know stocks were
getting crushed And yeah the feds raising rates appoint a
quarter now forever Well equities and bonds will get crushed
Commodities well generally keep up with the spike in prices
causing the fed raised rates in the first place So
they're a good hedge for most investment portfolios And not
all of them are great forever like check out riel
Inflation adjusted oil prices the last few decades you had
not a good run Most not all do well though
an oil will likely have its day in the sun
again At some point you lan When in doubt remember
what kim kardashian and warren buffett said A good asset
is hard to find and a hard asset is good
to find But we won't tell you who said which
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