Crane 100 Creeps Down to 4.14%
Money fund yields (7-day, annualized, simple, net) were one basis point lower to 4.14% on average during the week ended Friday, March 14 (as measured by our Crane 100 Money Fund Index), after falling 1 bp last week and going unchanged the week prior. Fund yields have digested all of the Federal Reserve's 25 basis point cut from December 18, but they may inch down another basis point or 2 lower in coming days. They've declined by 92 bps since the Fed first cut its Fed funds target rate by 50 bps percent on Sept. 18, and they've declined by 49 bps since the Fed cut rates by 1/4 point on 11/7. Yields were 4.16% on 2/28/25, 4.19% on 1/31/25, 4.28% on average on 12/31/24, 4.45% on 11/30/24, 4.65% on 10/31, 4.75% on 9/30, 5.10% on 8/31, 5.13% on 7/31 and 6/28, 5.14% on 3/31 and 5.20% on 12/31/23. The broader Crane Money Fund Average, which includes all taxable funds tracked by Crane Data (currently 683), shows a 7-day yield of 4.04%, down one bps in the week through Friday. Prime Inst money fund yields were up one bp to 4.28% in the latest week. Government Inst MFs were down 2 bps to 4.14%. Treasury Inst MFs were down one bp to 4.09%. Treasury Retail MFs currently yield 3.86%, Government Retail MFs yield 3.84%, and Prime Retail MFs yield 4.04%, Tax-exempt MF 7-day yields were up 77 bps to 2.70%. Assets of money market funds fell by $24.6 billion last week to $7.326 trillion, according to Crane Data's Money Fund Intelligence Daily. For the month of February, MMF assets rose by $94.2 billion, after increasing by $52.8 billion in January, $110.9 billion in December, $200.5 billion in November, $97.5 billion in October and $149.8 billion in September. Weighted average maturities were up 1 day at 36 days for the Crane MFA and 1 day longer at 37 days the Crane 100 Money Fund Index. According to Monday's Money Fund Intelligence Daily, with data as of Friday (3/14), 94 money funds (out of 795 total) yield under 3.0% with $91.2 billion in assets, or 1.2%; 253 funds yield between 3.00% and 3.99% ($1.371 trillion, or 18.7%), 448 funds yield between 4.0% and 4.99% ($5.864 trillion, or 80.0%) and following the recent rate cut there continue to be zero funds yielding 5.0% or more. Our Brokerage Sweep Intelligence Index, an average of FDIC-insured cash options from major brokerages, was unchanged at 0.41%. The latest Brokerage Sweep Intelligence, with data as of March 14, shows no changes over the past week. Three of the 10 major brokerages tracked by our BSI still offer rates of 0.01% for balances of $100K (and lower tiers). These include: E*Trade, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley.
