Total money fund assets declined by $2.96 billion to $3.775 trillion in the latest week, reported the Investment Company Institute Thursday evening. This marked the first weekly decline in overall money fund assets since Sept. 24. Over the prior 11 weeks, money fund assets had increased by $321.2 billion, or 9.3%.
General purpose (or "prime") Institutional money fund assets rose by $4.6 billion to $1.139 trillion, their sixth straight weekly increase. These assets have risen by $103.6 billion, or 10.0%, since Oct. 8. Assets of Prime Institutional funds had fallen by $418.5 billion, or 28.8% in the 4-week period from Sept. 10 through Oct. 8. Almost half of this decline occurred during the week ended Sept. 17, when Reserve Primary Fund "broke the buck".
Government & Treasury Institutional funds dropped by $7.3 billion to $1.168 trillion, suffering their first decline in 13 weeks. From Sept. 10 through Dec. 10, these funds grew by $485.2 billion, or 70.3%. Tax Exempt Institutional money fund assets decreased by $1.8 billion to $184.7 billion, their second consecutive weekly decline.
General Purpose Retail assets increased by $2.7 billion to $719.7 billion, their fifth straight weekly gain. Government Retail funds fell by $632 million to $266.0 billion. Tax Exempt Retail assets declined by $507 million to $297.9 billion.
Year-to-date, money fund assets have increased by $630.5 billion, or 20.0%, on track to post their second-best increase in asset terms ever (behind last year's $760 billion flood). Institutional assets have increased by $508.0 billion, or 25.6%, while Retail assets have increased by $122.5 billion, or 10.5%.
