[30] The ending of this phase of net purchases in December 2018 marks an important pivot in the data, with the convergence of net portfolio outflows to zero by the middle of 2019. Chart 10 Breakdown of euro area net portfolio investment flows (EUR billions; twelve-month moving sums)  Source: ECB.
Notes: A positive (negative) number indicates net outflows (inflows) from (into) the euro area. Equity includes investment fund shares. APP stands for asset purchase programme. Latest observation: August 2019. Euro area investors contributed sizeably to the net portfolio outflows by investing heavily in long-term foreign fixed income securities during the APP period (Chart 11).