The Investment Company Institute's latest weekly statistics on money market mutual fund assets show a huge decline, $52.0 billion, to a total of $3.484 trillion. This is no surprise given the week's inclusion of April 15, when the Internal Revenue Service pulls over $100 billion from money funds, checking accounts and other cash accounts for income tax payments. A Treasury settlement date on April 15, and higher-than-target repo rates also contributed to outflows.
Institutional funds saw $45.5 billion exit in the week ended April 16. They now stand at $2.222 trillion, representing 63.8% of all money fund assets. Retail funds saw $6.5 billion leave, falling to $1.263 trillion. Year-to-date, money fund assets have increased by $339.9 billion, or 10.8%, and over the past 52 weeks assets have grown by $1.043 trillion, or 42.7%.
General purpose institutional funds total $1.305 trillion, or 37.4% of all money fund assets, followed by general purpose retail funds with $749.8 billion, or 21.5% of all assets. Government institutional funds are the third largest segment with $733.4 billion, or 21.0%, and government retail funds (including Treasuries) totaled $210.8 billion, or 6.0%. Tax-exempt retail funds hold $301.9 billion, or 8.7%, and tax-exempt institutional funds have $183.6 billion, or 5.3%.
For the week ended Wednesday, our Crane 100 Money Fund Index fell from 2.66% to 2.59%. Our broader Crane Money Fund Average declined from 2.48% to 2.42%. The Crane Tax-Exempt MF Index fell from 1.72% to 1.66%. Yields should continue inching downward in coming days, though the majority of previous Federal Reserve short-term interest rate cuts are now reflected in funds. We could even see rates inch higher next week as Treasury and LIBOR-linked rates undergo a sharp uptick.
