The Investment Company Institute's released its latest monthly "Trends in Mutual Fund Investing" and "Month-End Portfolio Holdings of Taxable Money Funds" for September 2023 on Monday. ICI's monthly Trends shows money fund totals rising $74.1 billion in September to a record $5.681 trillion (after increases in August, July, June, May and April). Prior to this, the March jump (a $371.0 billion increase) was the third largest monthly increase ever and the largest in history if you exclude 2 coronavirus lockdown panic months in March and April 2020. Bond fund assets decreased, dropping $24.9 billion to $4.638 trillion.
MMFs have increased by $1.110 trillion, or 24.3%, over the past 12 months. Money funds' September asset increase follows gains of $123.9 billion in August $31.4 billion in July, $30.6 billion in June, $172.7 billion in May, $8.4 billion in April, $371.0 billion in March, $60.0 billion in February, $31.5 billion in January, $105.3 billion in December, $63.4 billion in November, $36.8 billion in October and $4.2 billion in Sept. Money fund assets surpassed bond fund assets in September 2022 for the first time since 2010 and they continued to hold a sizeable lead last month. (The bond fund totals don't include bond ETFs, which total $1.371 trillion as of 9/30, according to ICI.)
ICI's monthly release states, "The combined assets of the nation's mutual funds decreased by $704.82 billion, or 2.9 percent, to $23.79 trillion in September, according to the Investment Company Institute’s official survey of the mutual fund industry. In the survey, mutual fund companies report actual assets, sales, and redemptions to ICI.... Bond funds had an outflow of $15.82 billion in September, compared with an outflow of $1.12 billion in August.... Money market funds had an inflow of $60.80 billion in September, compared with an inflow of $109.96 billion in August. In September funds offered primarily to institutions had an inflow of $24.25 billion and funds offered primarily to individuals had an inflow of $36.56 billion."
The Institute's latest statistics show that Taxable MMFs and Tax Exempt MMFs were both higher last month. Taxable MMFs increased by $73.1 billion in September to $5.564 trillion. Tax-Exempt MMFs increased $0.9 billion to $116.7 billion. Taxable MMF assets increased year-over-year by $1.093 trillion (24.4%), and Tax-Exempt funds rose by $17.1 billion over the past year (17.2%). Bond fund assets decreased by $109.7 billion (after decreasing $24.9 billion in August) to $4.528 trillion; they've decreased by $5.8 billion (-0.0%) over the past year.
Money funds represent 23.9% of all mutual fund assets (up 1.0% from the previous month), while bond funds account for 19.0%, according to ICI. The total number of money market funds was 276, down 2 from the prior month and down from 292 a year ago. Taxable money funds numbered 230 funds, and tax-exempt money funds numbered 46 funds.
ICI's "Month-End Portfolio Holdings" confirm a drop in Repo and a jump in Treasuries last month. Repurchase Agreements remained the largest composition segment in September but decreased $68.1 billion, or -2.4%, to $2.772 trillion, or 49.8% of holdings. Repo holdings have increased $365.5 billion, or 15.2%, over the past year. (See our Oct. 12 News, "Oct. Portfolio Holdings: Treasuries Continue Surge; Repo and TDs Slide.")
Treasury holdings in Taxable money funds increased last month; they remain the second largest composition segment. Treasury holdings increased $157.9 billion, or 10.5%, to $1.663 trillion, or 29.9% of holdings. Treasury securities have increased by $392.4 billion, or 30.9%, over the past 12 months. U.S. Government Agency securities were the third largest segment; they decreased $10.9 billion, or -1.7%, to $626.8 billion, or 11.3% of holdings. Agency holdings have increased by $180.2 billion, or 40.3%, over the past 12 months.
Certificates of Deposit (CDs) remained in fourth place; they decreased by $28.5 billion, or -9.7%, to $265.1 billion (4.8% of assets). CDs held by money funds rose by $88.0 billion, or 49.7%, over 12 months. Commercial Paper remained in fifth place, down $4.1 billion, or -1.9%, to $211.1 billion (3.8% of assets). CP increased $63.9 billion, or 43.4%, over one year. Other holdings decreased to $17.9 billion (0.3% of assets), while Notes (including Corporate and Bank) increased to $11.9 billion (0.2% of assets).
The Number of Accounts Outstanding in ICI's series for taxable money funds increased to 62.123 million, while the Number of Funds was unchanged at 230. Over the past 12 months, the number of accounts rose by 3.129 million and the number of funds decreased by 7. The Average Maturity of Portfolios was 26 days, up 2 from August. Over the past 12 months, WAMs of Taxable money have increased by 8.
