Money Fund Yields Down to 4.13%
Money fund yields (7-day, annualized, simple, net) inched down to 4.13% on average during the week ended Friday, April 18 (as measured by our Crane 100 Money Fund Index), after staying unchanged the past 2 weeks. Fund yields should remain relatively flat until the Fed moves rates again. They've declined by 93 bps since the Fed first cut its Fed funds target rate by 50 bps on Sept. 18, 2024, and they've declined by 50 bps since the Fed cut rates by 1/4 point on 11/7. Yields were 4.14% on 3/31/25, 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 684), shows a 7-day yield of 4.03%, down one bp in the week through Friday. Prime Inst money fund yields were unchanged at 4.27% in the latest week. Government Inst MFs were down one bp to 4.14%. Treasury Inst MFs were unchanged at 4.08%. Treasury Retail MFs currently yield 3.84%, Government Retail MFs yield 3.85%, and Prime Retail MFs yield 4.03%, Tax-exempt MF 7-day yields were up 51 bps to 3.64%. Assets of money market funds fell by $153.1 billion last week to $7.3181 trillion, according to Crane Data's Money Fund Intelligence Daily. For the month of April (MTD), MMF assets have declined by $142.9 billion, after increasing by $2.8 billion in March, $94.2 billion in February, $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 at 36 days for the Crane MFA and 36 days the Crane 100 Money Fund Index. According to Monday's Money Fund Intelligence Daily, with data as of Friday (4/18), 48 money funds (out of 796 total) yield under 3.0% with $24.4 billion in assets, or 0.3%; 306 funds yield between 3.00% and 3.99% ($1.420 trillion, or 19.4%), 442 funds yield between 4.0% and 4.99% ($5.862 trillion, or 80.2%) 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 April 11, 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.
