Crane Data published its latest Weekly Money Fund Portfolio Holdings statistics Wednesday, which track a shifting subset of our monthly Portfolio Holdings collection. The most recent cut (with data as of Jan. 17) includes Holdings information from 60 money funds (down 1 from two weeks ago), or $3.587 trillion (down from $3.651 trillion) of the $7.183 trillion in total money fund assets (or 49.9%) tracked by Crane Data. (Note: Our Weekly MFPH are e-mail only and aren't available on the website. See our latest Monthly Money Fund Portfolio Holdings here and our Jan. 13 News, "January Money Fund Portfolio Holdings: Repo Surges, Treasuries Slide.")
Our latest Weekly MFPH Composition summary shows Government assets dominating the holdings list with Treasuries totaling $1.813 trillion (down from $1.829 trillion two weeks ago), or 50.5%; Repurchase Agreements (Repo) totaling $1.172 trillion (down from $1.224 trillion two weeks ago), or 32.7%, and Government Agency securities totaling $312.2 billion (up from $309.9 billion), or 8.7%. Commercial Paper (CP) totaled $118.6 billion (up from two weeks ago at $112.9 billion), or 3.3%. Certificates of Deposit (CDs) totaled $62.9 billion (down from $63.7 billion two weeks ago), or 1.8%. The Other category accounted for $72.3 billion or 2.0%, while VRDNs accounted for $36.3 billion, or 1.0%.
The Ten Largest Issuers in our Weekly Holdings product include: the US Treasury with $1.813 trillion (50.5% of total holdings), Fixed Income Clearing Corp with $357.0B (10.0%), the Federal Home Loan Bank with $201.5 billion (5.6%), JP Morgan with $90.1B (2.5%), Citi with $84.1B (2.3%), BNP Paribas with $77.2B (2.2%), RBC with $77.1B (2.1%), Federal Farm Credit Bank with $76.1B (2.1%), Goldman Sachs with $48.1B (1.3%) and Bank of America with $41.2B (1.1%).
The Ten Largest Funds tracked in our latest Weekly include: JPMorgan US Govt MM ($304.2B), Goldman Sachs FS Govt ($267.0B), JPMorgan 100% US Treas MMkt ($246.9B), Fidelity Inv MM: Govt Port ($217.5B), Morgan Stanley Inst Liq Govt ($187.7B), BlackRock Lq FedFund ($166.8B), State Street Inst US Govt ($166.4B), BlackRock Lq Treas Tr ($154.8B), Fidelity Inv MM: MM Port ($148.3B) and Dreyfus Govt Cash Mgmt ($131.5B). (Let us know if you'd like to see our latest domestic U.S. and/or "offshore" Weekly Portfolio Holdings collection and summary.)
In other news, Fitch Ratings published "Global Money Market Fund Update: 2025" yesterday too, which tells us, "Fitch Ratings believes global credit conditions will remain generally neutral in 2025, driven by a broadly stable macroeconomic base case. Policy rate cuts in major economies will also continue to be measured, with central banks carefully monitoring inflation risks. This underlies our anticipation for balanced money market fund (MMF) industry flows for the year and our 'neutral' sector outlook for 2025."
They write, "Heightened market volatility, stemming from geopolitical tail-risks and the looming global trade war, could lead to outflows in stressed markets. In addition, rapid changes in inflation and rate expectations, driven by policy uncertainties, particularly in the US, may lead to valuation volatility. However, investor flight-to-safety could result in inflows to the MMF sector overall. The 'neutral' outlooks of most of the key banking sectors, together with MMFs typical investment universe in high-quality banks support a generally neutral credit environment for MMFs in 2025."
Fitch comments, "We expect balanced MMF industry flows, benefiting from the duration effect, which delays the impact of policy rate cuts on fund yields. However, material deviations from rate cut forecasts may increase fund flow volatility. We expect fund managers to continue to gradually increase weighted average maturity (WAM) and weighted average life (WAL) to lock in high yields in anticipation of rate cuts.... Fitch expects the Securities Exchange Commission's (SEC) final rule on central clearing will continue to be an area of focus for US MMF managers. However, we expect its impact to be muted until the implementation date approaches. In Europe, Fitch does not expect major money fund-specific regulatory development in 2025."
They write, "Investors' relative value considerations of MMFs versus alternative investment opportunities, as well as market stability, will continue be drivers of AUM in 2025.... Fitch expects tactical WAM and WAL extensions in 2025, which may expose US MMFs to increased risk in the event of market volatility."
Discussing the "Central Clearing Rule," they state, "The SEC central clearing rule, adopted in December 2023, continues to be a focal point for US MMF managers. Fitch expects limited impact in the near to medium term given the tiered implementation for secondary market US Treasury transactions and traditional repurchase agreements at end-2025 and mid-2026, respectively. Fitch views the rule as a generally credit positive, given the reduction of counterparty risk to MMFs. However, the final form of the rule, specifically clearing agency policies, is still an outstanding consideration and remain an industry focus. The 'AAAmmf' diversification limit to the Fixed Income Clearing Corporation is limited to 75% of net asset value."
The update adds, "Fitch does not expect major money fund-specific regulatory development out of Europe in 2025 due to long lead times. Regulatory stances vary in the region. The European Commission's (EC) 2023 review on MMF regulation adequacy did not recommend immediate reform, while ESMA's response to EC consultation on non-bank financial intermediation reiterated its position on the necessity to complete the reform of the MMF Regulation. The UK Financial Conduct Authority plans to issue a policy statement following its regulatory consultation. This includes a proposal to significantly increasing minimum liquid asset requirements for MMFs, although no timeline has been defined. Market discussion regarding international cooperation in policy reforms within Europe persists given the significant cross-border funding and investing activities."
Finally, the piece states, "The economic environment in China remains challenging, with Fitch forecasting further deterioration in the Chinese banking industry in 2025. Chinese MMFs, heavily invested in time deposits and negotiable certificate of deposit, are exposed to the banking sector's credit quality. However, we expect the Chinese MMFs market to be stable due to the short duration of MMFs and their focus on large banks. Fitch maintains a 'neutral' outlook for Chinese money funds sector."
It adds, "Chinese MMF assets continue to increase, reaching a record CNY13.7 trillion (USD1.9 trillion) by end-2024. Fitch anticipates further growth, supported by the government's moderately loose monetary policy. MMF yield remains low at around 1.5% amid a low interest rate environment. Fitch expects yields to stay at this level in the coming year. Despite the record low yields, MMFs have remained attractive to investors seeking safe assets in a volatile capital market.... Regulations permit Chinese MMFs to apply up to 20% leverage. However, leverage levels have been declining among a challenging credit environment. The average leverage across all MMFs had decreased to 3% by end-2024 from 5% a year earlier."
