Though September's asset totals will likely show a modest decrease, the Investment Company Institute's latest monthly "Trends in Mutual Fund Investing" confirms that money market mutual fund assets posted their first monthly increase since January 2009, when fund assets hit a record $3.9 trillion. ICI's numbers show money fund assets increased by $19.4 billion, or 0.7%, in August 2010 to $2.827 trillion. (Crane Data's Money Fund Intelligence showed assets increasing by $22.9 billion in August, but we show assets falling by $16.6 billion MTD in September.)
The ICI report shows money fund assets down by $488.8 billion, or 14.7%, YTD through August. Bond funds, which are now almost as large as money funds with $2.581 trillion, have increased by $374.6 billion YTD. The "Trends" report says, "Money market funds had an inflow of $19.05 billion in August, compared with an outflow of $6.21 billion in July. Funds offered primarily to institutions had an inflow of $25.57 billion. Funds offered primarily to individuals had an outflow of $6.53 billion."
In a separate report, ICI's members-only "Month-End Portfolio Holdings of Taxable Money Market Funds" shows Repurchase Agreements with the largest increase in August, up $16.6 billion. CDs had the second largest increase, up $17.1 billion. CP declined by $5.8 billion. Over 3 months, Repo holdings have increased by $53.4 billion, and YTD they've increased by $74.1 billion. Every other major asset class of money funds is showing substantial year-to-date declines. (Govts are down $136.0 billion, CP is down $125.9 billion, CDs are down $117.8 billion, and Treasuries are down $95.4 billion.)
Repos, which surpassed CDs in June to become the largest money fund holding, remain in the No. 1 holding spot with $563.7 billion, or 22.6% of money fund assets. Certificates of Deposit allocations remain in second place with $552.9 billion, or 22.2%. (We include CDs and Eurodollar CDs, which total $101.5 billion in money funds, or 4.1%, in this total.) U.S. Government Agency Securities remain the third largest holding in taxable money funds at $417.9 billion, or 16.8%, followed by Commercial Paper with $394.4 billion, or 15.8%. U.S. Treasury Bills and Other Treasury Securities rank fifth with $319.2 billion, or 12.8%. Notes, including Bank Notes and Corporate Notes, account for $159.9 billion, or 6.4% of total holdings, while Other assets total $73.2 billion, or 3.3%.
Average Maturities of taxable money funds rose in August according to ICI to 43 days from 39 days. This compares to 36 days in June but is down dramatically from a 51 day average at the end of January 2010. The Number of Accounts Outstanding rose for the first time since November 2008, increasing by 117,015 to 28.745 million. The Number of Funds tracked by ICI's survey fell to 450 from 456 a month earlier. This total is down from 490 a year earlier and 543 two years ago.
