ICI published its latest weekly "Money Market Fund Assets" report, as well as its monthly "Trends in Mutual Fund Investing" for December 2024 and its monthly "Month-End Portfolio Holdings of Taxable Money Funds" Thursday. The weekly series shows money fund assets falling $30.3 billion to $6.873 trillion, after rising $41.6 billion the week prior and falling $54.9 billion two weeks prior. Money fund assets have risen in 18 of the last 26, and 29 of the last 41, weeks, increasing by $569.3 billion (or 9.0%) since the Fed cut on 9/18/24 and increasing by $895.4 billion (or 15.0%) since 4/24/24. MMF assets are up by $872 billion, or 14.5%, in the past 52 weeks (through 1/29/25), with Institutional MMFs up $462 billion, or 12.7% and Retail MMFs up $409 billion, or 17.4%. Year-to-date, MMF assets are up by $22 billion, or 0.3%, with Institutional MMFs up $1 billion, or 0.0% and Retail MMFs up $22 billion, or 0.8%.
ICI's weekly release says, "Total money market fund assets decreased by $30.34 billion to $6.87 trillion for the week ended Wednesday, January 29, the Investment Company Institute reported.... Among taxable money market funds, government funds decreased by $31.51 billion and prime funds increased by $1.55 billion. Tax-exempt money market funds decreased by $387 million." ICI's stats show Institutional MMFs decreasing $23.7 billion and Retail MMFs decreasing $6.6 billion in the latest week. Total Government MMF assets, including Treasury funds, were $5.636 trillion (82.0% of all money funds), while Total Prime MMFs were $1.103 trillion (16.0%). Tax Exempt MMFs totaled $134.2 billion (2.0%).
It explains, "Assets of retail money market funds decreased by $6.64 billion to $2.76 trillion. Among retail funds, government money market fund assets decreased by $6.34 billion to $1.76 trillion, prime money market fund assets decreased by $184 million to $879.13 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $113 million to $122.38 billion." Retail assets account for over a third of total assets, or 40.1%, and Government Retail assets make up 63.7% of all Retail MMFs.
They add, "Assets of institutional money market funds decreased by $23.70 billion to $4.12 trillion. Among institutional funds, government money market fund assets decreased by $25.16 billion to $3.88 trillion, prime money market fund assets increased by $1.73 billion to $223.72 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $274 million to $11.78 billion." Institutional assets accounted for 60.0% of all MMF assets, with Government Institutional assets making up 94.3% of all institutional MMF totals.
According to Crane Data's separate Money Fund Intelligence Daily series, money fund assets have risen by $49.7 billion in January through 1/29/25 to $7.224 trillion. (They hit a record high on 1/7 at $7.266 trillion before falling, rebounding and then falling again this week.) Assets rose by $110.9 billion in December, $200.5 trillion in November, $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 and $93.9 billion last January. 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.
ICI's monthly Trends shows money fund totals rising $139.3 billion, or 2.1%, in December to $6.853 trillion. MMFs have increased by $933.1 billion, or 15.8%, over the past 12 months (through 12/31/24). Money funds' December asset increase follows an increase of $171.5 billion in November, $117.4 billion in October, $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 and $82.4 billion last January. Bond fund assets decreased $54.7 billion to $5.068 trillion, and bond ETF assets decreased to $1.76 trillion.
The monthly release states, "The combined assets of the nation's mutual funds decreased by $601.82 billion, or 2.1 percent, to $28.54 trillion in December, 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 $6.62 billion in December, compared with an inflow of $14.34 billion in November.... Money market funds had an inflow of $126.26 billion in December, compared with an inflow of $156.85 billion in November. In December funds offered primarily to institutions had an inflow of $77.37 billion and funds offered primarily to individuals had an inflow of $48.90 billion."
The Institute's latest statistics show that Taxable MMFs and Tax Exempt MMFs were both higher from last month. Taxable MMFs increased by $139.1 billion in December to $6.717 trillion. Tax-Exempt MMFs increased $0.1 billion to $135.9 billion. Taxable MMF assets increased year-over-year by $920.8 billion (15.9%), and Tax-Exempt funds rose by $12.3 billion over the past year (10.0%). Bond fund assets decreased by $54.7 billion (after increasing by $69.0 billion in November) to $5.068 trillion; they've increased by $324.9 billion (6.8%) over the past year.
Money funds represent 24.0% of all mutual fund assets (up 1.0% from the previous month), while bond funds account for 17.8%, according to ICI. The total number of money market funds was 258, down 1 from the prior month and down from 275 a year ago. Taxable money funds numbered 217 funds, and tax-exempt money funds numbered 41 funds.
ICI's "Month-End Portfolio Holdings" confirms a jump in Repo and a drop in Treasuries last month. Treasury holdings in Taxable money funds remained the largest composition segment last month, they decreased $46.5 billion, or -1.6%, to $2.852 trillion, or 42.5% of holdings. Treasury securities have increased by $714.1 billion, or 33.4%, over the past 12 months. (See our Jan. 13 News, "January Money Fund Portfolio Holdings: Repo Surges, Treasuries Slide.")
Repurchase Agreements were the second largest composition segment this past month, increasing $229.7 billion, or 10.3%, to $2.465 trillion, or 36.7% of holdings. Repo holdings have decreased $51.2 billion, or -2.0%, over the past year. U.S. Government Agency securities were the third largest segment; they increased $32.0 billion, or 4.0%, to $832.2 billion, or 12.4% of holdings. Agency holdings have increased by $179.0 billion, or 27.4%, over the past 12 months.
Commercial Paper moved up to fourth place, down $7.3 billion, or -2.5%, to $280.3 billion (4.2% of assets). CP increased $49.6 billion, or 21.5%, over one year. Certificates of Deposit (CDs) moved down to fifth place; they decreased by $84.3 billion, or -24.4%, to $260.7 billion (3.9% of assets). CDs held by money funds fell by $5.8 billion, or -2.2%, over 12 months. Other holdings increased to $22.8 billion (0.3% of assets), while Notes (including Corporate and Bank) increased to $31.7 billion (0.5% of assets).
The Number of Accounts Outstanding in ICI's series for taxable money funds increased to 75.243 million, while the Number of Funds was up 1 at 217. Over the past 12 months, the number of accounts rose by 10.886 million and the number of funds decreased by 12. The Average Maturity of Portfolios was 37 days, unchanged from November. Over the past 12 months, WAMs of Taxable money are unchanged.
