The Investment Company Institute published its latest weekly "Money Market Fund Assets" report Thursday and its latest monthly "Trends in Mutual Fund Investing" and "Month-End Portfolio Holdings of Taxable Money Funds" for October 2023 on Wednesday. The former shows MMF assets surging for the 6th week in a row and hitting yet another new record level, breaking the $5.8 trillion level. ICI's asset series rose $73.0 billion to $5.836 trillion in the past week and have risen by $228.5 billion the past 6 weeks (after a drop of $98.8 billion the week ended 10/18). Assets are up by $1.101 trillion, or 23.3%, year-to-date in 2023, with Institutional MMFs up $533 billion, or 17.4% and Retail MMFs up $568 billion, or 33.9%. Over the past 52 weeks, money funds have risen a massive $1.165 trillion, or 25.0%, with Retail MMFs rising by $631 billion (39.1%) and Inst MMFs rising by $534 billion (17.5%). (Note: Register soon for our upcoming Money Fund University in Jersey City, Dec. 18-19!)
The weekly release says, "Total money market fund assets increased by $72.98 billion to $5.84 trillion for the eight-day period ended Wednesday, November 29, the Investment Company Institute reported. Among taxable money market funds, government funds increased by $71.53 billion and prime funds increased by $2.19 billion. Tax-exempt money market funds decreased by $747 million." ICI's stats show Institutional MMFs rising $71.1 billion and Retail MMFs rising $1.9 billion in the latest week. Total Government MMF assets, including Treasury funds, were $4.773 trillion (81.8% of all money funds), while Total Prime MMFs were $940.2 billion (16.1%). Tax Exempt MMFs totaled $122.5 billion (2.1%).
ICI explains, "Assets of retail money market funds increased by $1.85 billion to $2.25 trillion. Among retail funds, government money market fund assets increased by $93 million to $1.46 trillion, prime money market fund assets increased by $2.04 billion to $673.62 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $274 million to $111.86 billion." Retail assets account for over a third of total assets, or 38.5%, and Government Retail assets make up 65.0% of all Retail MMFs.
They add, "Assets of institutional money market funds increased by $71.13 billion to $3.59 trillion. Among institutional funds, government money market fund assets increased by $71.44 billion to $3.31 trillion, prime money market fund assets increased by $158 million to $266.53 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $473 million to $10.69 billion." Institutional assets accounted for 61.5% of all MMF assets, with Government Institutional assets making up 92.3% of all Institutional MMF totals.
According to Crane Data's separate Money Fund Intelligence Daily series, money fund assets surged $182.3 billion in the first 29 days of November to a record $6.224 trillion. Assets fell by $31.9 billion in October after rising by $93.9 billion in September, $98.3 billion in August and $34.7 billion in July. Note that ICI's asset totals don't include a number of funds tracked by the SEC and Crane Data, so they're over $400 billion lower than Crane's asset series.
ICI's monthly Trends shows money fund totals falling $13.6 billion in October to $5.667 trillion (after increases in September, 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 $90.4 billion to $4.438 trillion.
MMFs have increased by $1.059 trillion, or 23.0%, over the past 12 months (according to ICI's Trends through 10/31). Money funds' October asset decrease follows gains of $74.1 billion in September, $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 $1.369 trillion as of 10/31, according to ICI.)
ICI's monthly release states, "The combined assets of the nation's mutual funds decreased by $543.00 billion, or 2.3 percent, to $23.24 trillion in October, 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 $34.59 billion in October, compared with an outflow of $15.82 billion in September.... Money market funds had an outflow of $28.54 billion in October, compared with an inflow of $60.77 billion in September. In October funds offered primarily to institutions had an outflow of $88.99 billion and funds offered primarily to individuals had an inflow of $60.46 billion."
The Institute's latest statistics show that Taxable MMFs were lower while Tax Exempt MMFs were higher last month. Taxable MMFs decreased by $19.9 billion in October to $5.544 trillion. Tax-Exempt MMFs increased $6.4 billion to $123.1 billion. Taxable MMF assets increased year-over-year by $1.047 trillion (23.3%), and Tax-Exempt funds rose by $11.8 billion over the past year (10.6%). Bond fund assets decreased by $90.4 billion (after decreasing $109.7 billion in September) to $4.438 trillion; they've decreased by $8.1 billion (-0.0%) over the past year.
Money funds represent 24.4% of all mutual fund assets (up 0.5% from the previous month), while bond funds account for 19.1%, according to ICI. The total number of money market funds was 276, unchanged from the prior month and down from 291 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 October but decreased $303.0 billion, or -10.9%, to $2.469 trillion, or 44.5% of holdings. Repo holdings have decreased $12.4 billion, or -0.5%, over the past year. (See our Nov. 10 News, "Nov. Portfolio Holdings: Treasuries Continue Surge; Repos, Assets Slide.")
Treasury holdings in Taxable money funds increased last month; they remain the second largest composition segment. Treasury holdings increased $190.0 billion, or 11.4%, to $1.853 trillion, or 33.4% of holdings. Treasury securities have increased by $687.6 billion, or 59.0%, over the past 12 months. U.S. Government Agency securities were the third largest segment; they increased $34.5 billion, or 5.5%, to $661.3 billion, or 11.9% of holdings. Agency holdings have increased by $179.8 billion, or 37.3%, over the past 12 months.
Certificates of Deposit (CDs) remained in fourth place; they increased by $50.2 billion, or 18.9%, to $315.3 billion (5.7% of assets). CDs held by money funds rose by $105.9 billion, or 50.6%, over 12 months. Commercial Paper remained in fifth place, up $18.0 billion, or 8.5%, to $229.0 billion (4.1% of assets). CP increased $61.4 billion, or 36.6%, over one year. Other holdings increased to $18.4 billion (0.3% of assets), while Notes (including Corporate and Bank) decreased to $6.5 billion (0.1% of assets).
The Number of Accounts Outstanding in ICI's series for taxable money funds increased to 62.680 million, while the Number of Funds was unchanged at 230. Over the past 12 months, the number of accounts rose by 3.330 million and the number of funds decreased by 6. The Average Maturity of Portfolios was 30 days, up 4 from September. Over the past 12 months, WAMs of Taxable money have increased by 15.
