Crane Data Subscribers
Crane 100 Index Declines 27 Bps for Week, 65 Bps for Month of January. Our Crane 100 Money Fund Index, the average 7-day current yield for the 100 largest taxable money market mutual funds, declined by 27 basis points (0.27%) in the week ended Friday (2/1) to 3.78%, and declined by 65 bps during the month of January (from 4.50% on 12/31 to 3.85% on 1/31). The broad-based Crane Money Fund Average fell from 4.07% to 3.40% from 12/31/07 to 1/31/08, while our Crane Tax Exempt Money Fund Index fell from 2.90% to 2.39% during January, according to the pending February issue of Money Fund Intelligence. Taxable assets tracked by Crane Data increased from $2.486 trillion to $2.641 trillion in January while tax exempt assets increased from $455.4 billion to $469.3 billion. Total money fund assets rose from $2.941 trillion to $3.110 trillion. We expect yields to continue plummeting over the coming week, and assets to continue higher once they rebound from temporary month-end outflows. The Crane 100 should move towards 3.0% by the end of February, and the top-yielding money markets should soon be under 4.0%.
