The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission published its latest monthly "Money Market Fund Statistics" summary earlier this month (the stats were delayed last month), which shows that total money fund assets rose by $113.2 billion in December 2024 to a record $7.238 trillion. Assets jumped $197.8 billion in November, $93.3 billion in October and $166.6 billion in September 2024. The SEC shows Prime MMFs increased $4.0 billion in December to $1.191 trillion, Govt & Treasury funds increased $109.5 billion to $5.907 trillion and Tax Exempt funds decreased $0.3 billion to $141.0 billion. Taxable yields fell again in December after plunging in November. The SEC's Division of Investment Management summarizes monthly Form N-MFP data and includes asset totals and averages for yields, liquidity levels, WAMs, WALs, holdings, and other money market fund trends. We review their latest numbers below. (Our MFI XLS monthly shows money fund assets rising $51.1 billion in January 2025 to a record $7.234 trillion. In February month-to-date through 2/6, total money fund assets have increased by $15.2 billion to $7.242 trillion, according to Crane Data's separate, and slightly smaller, MFI Daily series.)
December's asset jump follows an increase of $197.8 billion in November, $93.3 billion in October, $166.6 billion in September, $97.8 billion in August, $19.5 billion in July, $21.3 billion in June, and $89.7 billion in May. Assets decreased $17.7 billion in April and $68.5 billion in March, but increased $65.9 billion in February, and $87.7 billion last January. Over the 12 months through 12/31/24, total MMF assets have increased by $866.7 billion, or 13.6%, according to the SEC's series.
The SEC's stats show that of the $7.238 trillion in assets, $1.191 trillion was in Prime funds, up $4.0 billion in December. Prime assets were up $12.9 billion in November, $16.4 billion in October, but down $5.6 billion in September and $25.1 billion in August. They fell $11.5 billion in July and $204.6 billion in June, but rose $19.7 billion in May. Assets were down $30.0 billion in April, up $8.1 billion in March and $33.5 billion in February and $52.5 billion in January. Prime funds represented 16.5% of total assets at the end of November. They've decreased by $129.6 billion, or -9.8%, over the past 12 months. (Note that the SEC's series includes a number of internal money funds not tracked by ICI, though Crane Data includes most of these assets in its collections.)
Government & Treasury funds totaled $5.907 trillion, or 81.6% of assets. They increased $109.5 billion in December, $181.5 billion in November, $73.2 billion in October, $171.2 billion in September, $121.9 billion in August, $31.3 billion in July, $229.2 billion in June, $65.5 billion in May and $9.3 billion in April. They decreased $78.8 billion in March, but increased $33.1 billion in February and $39.7 billion in January. Govt & Treasury MMFs are up $986.6 billion over 12 months, or 20.1%. Tax Exempt Funds decreased $0.3 billion to $141.0 billion, or 1.9% of all assets. The number of money funds was 276 in December, up 1 from the previous month and down 15 funds from a year earlier.
Yields for Taxable MMFs were lower while Tax Exempt MMFs were higher in December. The Weighted Average Gross 7-Day Yield for Prime Institutional Funds on Dec. 31 was 4.58%, down 20 bps from the prior month. The Weighted Average Gross 7-Day Yield for Prime Retail MMFs was 4.62%, down 17 bps from the previous month. Gross yields were 4.55% for Government Funds, down 15 bps from last month. Gross yields for Treasury Funds were down 17 bps at 4.52%. Gross Yields for Tax Exempt Institutional MMFs were up 86 basis points to 3.83% in December. Gross Yields for Tax Exempt Retail funds were up 54 bps to 3.58%.
The Weighted Average 7-Day Net Yield for Prime Institutional MMFs was 4.48%, down 19 bps from the previous month and down 97 bps from 12/31/23. The Average Net Yield for Prime Retail Funds was 4.35%, down 17 bps from the previous month, and down 97 bps since 12/31/23. Net yields were 4.32% for Government Funds, down 15 bps from last month. Net yields for Treasury Funds were down 17 bps from the previous month at 4.30%. Net Yields for Tax Exempt Institutional MMFs were up 86 bps from November to 3.71%. Net Yields for Tax Exempt Retail funds were up 53 bps at 3.34% in December. (Note: These averages are asset-weighted.)
WALs and WAMs were mostly down in December. The average Weighted Average Life, or WAL, was 49.3 days (down 1.8 days) for Prime Institutional funds, and 46.2 days for Prime Retail funds (down 4.7 days). Government fund WALs averaged 89.8 days (unchanged) while Treasury fund WALs averaged 89.3 days (up 2.4 days). Tax Exempt Institutional fund WALs were 5.0 days (down 0.2 days), and Tax Exempt Retail MMF WALs averaged 29.2 days (down 2.1 days).
The Weighted Average Maturity, or WAM, was 29.2 days (down 2.1 days from the previous month) for Prime Institutional funds, 26.2 days (down 3.3 days from the previous month) for Prime Retail funds, 34.6 days (down 1.0 days from previous month) for Government funds, and 44.8 days (up 1.4 days from previous month) for Treasury funds. Tax Exempt Inst WAMs were down 0.2 days to 5.0 days, while Tax Exempt Retail WAMs were down 1.9 days from previous month at 28.6 days.
Total Daily Liquid Assets for Prime Institutional funds were 53.4% in December (up 1.3% from the previous month), and DLA for Prime Retail funds was 45.7% (up 3.1% from previous month) as a percent of total assets. The average DLA was 67.2% for Govt MMFs and 94.6% for Treasury MMFs. Total Weekly Liquid Assets was 65.6% (unchanged from the previous month) for Prime Institutional MMFs, and 58.6% (down 0.7% from the previous month) for Prime Retail funds. Average WLA was 78.9% for Govt MMFs and 98.7% for Treasury MMFs.
In the SEC's "Prime Holdings of Bank-Related Securities by Country table for December 2024," the largest entries included: Canada with $190.2 billion, the U.S. with $189.3B, Japan with $139.3 billion, France with $80.6 billion, Aust/NZ with $48.9B, the U.K. with $39.4B, Germany with $16.2B, the Netherlands with $15.3B and Switzerland with $3.4B. The gainers among the "Prime MMF Holdings by Country" included: the U.S. (up $15.5B), Canada (up $6.9B), Aust/NZ (up $2.6B) and Japan (up $0.6B). Decreases were shown by: Netherlands (down $29.3B), Germany (down $18.6B), the U.K. (down $10.1B), France (down $9.4B) and Switzerland (down $0.3B).
The SEC's "Prime Holdings of Bank-Related Securities by Region" table shows The Americas had $379.5 billion (up $22.4B), while Eurozone had $125.9B (down $70.2B). Asia Pacific subset had $212.1B (down $4.5B), while Europe (non-Eurozone) had $75.6B (down $52.1B from last month).
The "Prime MMF Aggregate Product Exposures" chart shows that of the $1.174 trillion in Prime MMF Portfolios as of December 31, $487.6B (41.5%) was in Government & Treasury securities (direct and repo) (up from $$389.8B), $267.7B (22.8%) was in CDs and Time Deposits (down from $354.1B), $196.8B (16.8%) was in Financial Company CP (down from $201.5B), $146.1B (12.4%) was held in Non-Financial CP and Other securities (down from $147.8B), and $76.0B (6.5%) was in ABCP (down from $77.0B).
The SEC's "Government and Treasury Funds Bank Repo Counterparties by Country" table shows the U.S. with $424.0 billion, Canada with $221.7 billion, France with $163.7 billion, the U.K. with $78.2 billion, Germany with $16.9 billion, Japan with $136.1 billion and Other with $37.6 billion. All MMF Repo with the Federal Reserve was up $212.6 billion in December to $382.4 billion.
Finally, a "Percent of Securities with Greater than 179 Days to Maturity" table shows Prime Inst MMFs 8.5%, Prime Retail MMFs with 5.5%, Tax Exempt Inst MMFs with 0.0%, Tax Exempt Retail MMFs with 4.8%, Govt MMFs with 13.9% and Treasury MMFs with 13.2%.
