In its monthly report on bond holdings, the Treasury Department said Wednesday total foreign holdings of Treasury debt dipped 0.9 percent in February to $6.16 trillion, down from a record of $6.22 trillion in January.

The holdings of China, normally the top holder of Treasury debt, slipped 1.2 percent to $1.22 trillion. Japan's fell 1.1 percent from January. China's decline was a bit larger, allowing Japan to jump into the top spot, $700 million above China.

China overtook Japan for the top spot in ownership of U.S. Treasury debt in 2008 as the financial crisis and a deep recession pushed up U.S. government borrowing to finance government deficits. The U.S. deficit topped $1 trillion annually for four consecutive years.

Private analysts had been forecasting that Japan would surpass China's holdings of Treasury debt this year given current economic trends in both nations.