ICI's latest "Money Market Fund Assets" report shows money funds rebounding $26.8 billion to a record $6.675 trillion in the latest week, after falling $22.2 billion the previous week. Money fund sssets have risen in 13 of the last 17, and 24 of the last 32, weeks, increasing by $371.7 billion (or 5.9%) since the Fed cut on 9/18 and increasing by $697.7 billion (or 11.7%) since April 24. MMF assets are up by $789 billion, or 16.7%, year-to-date in 2024 (through 11/26/24), with Institutional MMFs up $407 billion, or 13.3% and Retail MMFs up $382 billion, or 22.8%. Over the past 52 weeks, money funds have risen by $839 billion, or 14.4%, with Retail MMFs up by $426 billion (19.0%) and Inst MMFs rising by $413 billion (11.5%). (Note: We're still taking registrations for our "basic training" event, Money Fund University, which will be held Dec. 19-20, 2024 in Providence, R.I. Happy Thanksgiving, and see you in Providence in 3 weeks!)
ICI's weekly release says, "Total money market fund assets increased by $26.77 billion to $6.68 trillion for the six-day period ended Tuesday, November 26, the Investment Company Institute reported.... Among taxable money market funds, government funds increased by $25.14 billion and prime funds increased by $2.55 billion. Tax-exempt money market funds decreased by $924 million." ICI's stats show Institutional MMFs increasing $25.7 billion and Retail MMFs rising $1.1 billion in the latest week. Total Government MMF assets, including Treasury funds, were $5.471 trillion (82.0% of all money funds), while Total Prime MMFs were $1.068 trillion (16.0%). Tax Exempt MMFs totaled $135.8 billion (2.0%).
It explains, "Assets of retail money market funds increased by $1.07 billion to $2.67 trillion. Among retail funds, government money market fund assets increased by $1.30 billion to $1.70 trillion, prime money market fund assets increased by $332 million to $846.80 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $556 million to $123.78 billion." Retail assets account for over a third of total assets, or 40.0%, and Government Retail assets make up 63.7% of all Retail MMFs.
They add, "Assets of institutional money market funds increased by $25.69 billion to $4.00 trillion. Among institutional funds, government money market fund assets increased by $23.85 billion to $3.77 trillion, prime money market fund assets increased by $2.21 billion to $221.46 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $368 million to $12.02 billion." Institutional assets accounted for 60.0% of all MMF assets, with Government Institutional assets making up 94.2% of all institutional MMF totals. According to Crane Data's separate Money Fund Intelligence Daily series, money fund assets have risen by $169.8 billion in November through 11/26 to a record $7.032 trillion. Assets rose by $97.5 billion in October, $149.8 billion in September, $109.7 billion in August, $16.6 billion in July, $15.7 billion in June and $91.4 billion in May. They declined by $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 last November. Note that ICI's asset totals don't include a number of funds tracked by the SEC and Crane Data, so they're about $340 billion lower than Crane's asset series.
The ICI also published its latest monthly "Trends in Mutual Fund Investing" for October 2024, and its monthly "Month-End Portfolio Holdings of Taxable Money Funds" Wednesday. ICI's monthly Trends shows money fund totals rising $117.4 billion, or 1.8%, in October to $6.542 trillion. MMFs have increased by $874.7 billion, or 15.4%, over the past 12 months (through 10/31/24). Money funds' October asset increase follows an increase of $158.6 billion in September, $124.8 billion in August, $46.6 billion in July, $13.0 billion in June, $90.9 billion in May and $4.3 billion in April. They decreased $73.0 billion in March, but increased $55.1 billion in February, $82.4 billion in January, $34.9 billion in December and $213.9 billion last November. Bond fund assets decreased $55.6 billion to $5.055 trillion, and bond ETF assets inched down to $1.74 trillion.
The monthly release states, "The combined assets of the nation's mutual funds decreased by $286.21 billion, or 1.0 percent, to $28.17 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 inflow of $34.15 billion in October, compared with an inflow of $14.03 billion in September.... Money market funds had an inflow of $101.61 billion in October, compared with an inflow of $143.23 billion in September. In October funds offered primarily to institutions had an inflow of $55.33 billion and funds offered primarily to individuals had an inflow of $46.28 billion."
The Institute's latest statistics show that Taxable MMFs and Tax Exempt MMFs were both higher from last month. Taxable MMFs increased by $113.4 billion in October to $6.408 trillion. Tax-Exempt MMFs increased $4.0 billion to $133.7 billion. Taxable MMF assets increased year-over-year by $864.0 billion (15.6%), and Tax-Exempt funds rose by $10.6 billion over the past year (8.6%). Bond fund assets decreased by $55.6 billion (after increasing by $75.1 billion in September) to $5.055 trillion; they've increased by $616.7 billion (13.9%) over the past year.
Money funds represent 23.2% of all mutual fund assets (up 0.6% from the previous month), while bond funds account for 17.9%, according to ICI. The total number of money market funds was 260, down 3 from the prior month and down from 276 a year ago. Taxable money funds numbered 217 funds, and tax-exempt money funds numbered 43 funds.
ICI's "Month-End Portfolio Holdings" confirms a jump in Treasuries and a drop in Repo last month. Treasury holdings in Taxable money funds remained the largest composition segment last month, they increased $212.2 billion, or 8.5%, to $2.721 trillion, or 42.5% of holdings. Treasury securities have increased by $868.8 billion, or 46.9%, over the past 12 months. (See our Nov. 13 News, "Nov. Money Fund Portfolio Holdings: Treasuries Surge, Reclaims Top Spot.")
Repurchase Agreements were the second largest composition segment this past month, decreasing $224.1 billion, or -9.0%, to $2.277 trillion, or 35.5% of holdings. Repo holdings have decreased $192.4 billion, or -7.8%, over the past year. U.S. Government Agency securities were the third largest segment; they increased $63.5 billion, or 8.5%, to $808.0 billion, or 12.6% of holdings. Agency holdings have increased by $146.7 billion, or 22.2%, over the past 12 months.
Certificates of Deposit (CDs) remained in fourth place; they increased by $5.6 billion, or 1.8%, to $316.9 billion (4.9% of assets). CDs held by money funds rose by $1.5 billion, or 0.5%, over 12 months. Commercial Paper remained in fifth place, up $10.4 billion, or 3.8%, to $283.2 billion (4.4% of assets). CP increased $54.2 billion, or 23.7%, over one year. Other holdings increased to $20.5 billion (0.3% of assets), while Notes (including Corporate and Bank) decreased to $27.0 billion (0.4% of assets).
The Number of Accounts Outstanding in ICI's series for taxable money funds increased to 73.512 million, while the Number of Funds was unchanged at 217. Over the past 12 months, the number of accounts rose by 10.832 million and the number of funds decreased by 13. The Average Maturity of Portfolios was 36 days, up 6 days from September. Over the past 12 months, WAMs of Taxable money have increased by 6.
