The Investment Company Institute's latest monthly "Trends in Mutual Fund Investing shows that money market mutual fund assets increased by $12.8 billion, or 0.5%, in February 2011 after falling $75.7 billion in January. ICI's report shows that overall mutual fund assets, however, continue to rebound, strengthening the balance sheets of asset managers.
The "Trends" report says, "The combined assets of the nation's mutual funds increased by $248.3 billion, or 2.1 percent, to $12.122 trillion in February, according to the Investment Company Institute's official survey of the mutual fund industry. In the survey, mutual fund companies report actual assets, sales, and redemptions to ICI."
It comments, "Money market funds had an inflow of $12.02 billion in February, compared with an outflow of $75.61 billion in January. Funds offered primarily to institutions had an inflow of $15.78 billion. Funds offered primarily to individuals had an outflow of $3.76 billion." ICI also shows that the number of money funds covered fell by 3 to 649, and the "liquid assets of stock mutual funds, or the percent of assets held in cash, remain near a record low 3.5%.
ICI's separate "Month-End Portfolio Holdings of Taxable Money Market Funds" shows Commercial Paper jumping by $23.5 billion to $413.6 billion in February. CP is the fourth largest money fund holding, according to ICI's categorization scheme and series, at 17.1%. `CDs, or Certificates of Deposit, remain the largest holding, at $563.5 billion, or 23.3% of assets. (Eurodollar CDs account for $103.3 billion of this total, or 4.3% of all taxable assets.)
Repurchase Agreements (Repo) total $499.4 billion, or 20.7%, while U.S. Government Agency Securities total $367.9 billion, or 15.2%. U.S. Treasury Bills and Other Treasury Securities account for $332.4 billion, or 13.8%, of the $2.418 trillion in taxable money funds. Corporate Notes and Bank Notes represent $154.2 billion, or 6.4% of assets. The number of money market mutual fund accounts outstanding rose by 65,495 in February to 27.296 million.
