ICI: MMFs Hit Record $6.216 Trillion
The Investment Company Institute published its latest weekly "Money Market Fund Assets" report Thursday, which shows money market mutual fund assets rising to a record $6.216 trillion in the latest week. Assets have risen in 13 of the last 17 weeks, increasing by $238.1 billion (or 4.0%) since April 24. MMF assets are up by $329 billion, or 7.0%, year-to-date in 2024 (through 8/14/24), with Institutional MMFs up $110 billion, or 3.6% and Retail MMFs up $219 billion, or 13.1%. Over the past 52 weeks, money funds have risen by $646 billion, or 11.6%, with Retail MMFs up by $434 billion (20.9%) and Inst MMFs rising by $212 billion (6.1%). The weekly release says, "Total money market fund assets increased by $28.38 billion to $6.22 trillion for the week ended Wednesday, August 14, the Investment Company Institute reported.... Among taxable money market funds, government funds increased by $30.25 billion and prime funds decreased by $1.04 billion. Tax-exempt money market funds decreased by $834 million." ICI's stats show Institutional MMFs rising $26.0 billion and Retail MMFs rising $2.4 billion in the latest week. Total Government MMF assets, including Treasury funds, were $5.037 trillion (81.0% of all money funds), while Total Prime MMFs were $1.051 trillion (16.9%). Tax Exempt MMFs totaled $128.1 billion (2.1%). ICI explains, "Assets of retail money market funds increased by $2.40 billion to $2.51 trillion. Among retail funds, government money market fund assets decreased by $1.17 billion to $1.60 trillion, prime money market fund assets increased by $4.02 billion to $796.37 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $458 million to $116.75 billion." Retail assets account for over a third of total assets, or 40.4%, and Government Retail assets make up 63.6% of all Retail MMFs. They add, "Assets of institutional money market funds increased by $25.98 billion to $3.71 trillion. Among institutional funds, government money market fund assets increased by $31.41 billion to $3.44 trillion, prime money market fund assets decreased by $5.06 billion to $254.14 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $376 million to $11.38 billion." Institutional assets accounted for 59.6% of all MMF assets, with Government Institutional assets making up 92.8% of all institutional MMF totals. According to Crane Data's separate Money Fund Intelligence Daily series, money fund assets have risen by $62.8 billion in August (through 8/14) to $6.568 trillion. They hit a record $6.583 trillion on 8/13 but have since fallen. Assets rose by $16.6 billion in July, $15.7 billion in June and $91.4 billion in May, but they fell $15.8 billion in April and $68.8 billion in March. They rose $72.1 billion in February, $93.9 billion in January, $32.7 billion in December and $226.4 billion in November. MMF totals fell by $31.9 billion in October. They rose $93.9 billion in September and $98.3 billion in August. 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.
