ICI's latest "`Trends in Mutual Fund Investing, January 2013" confirms that money fund assets were basically flat in January. ICI also released its most recent "Month-End Portfolio Holdings of Taxable Money Funds," which reaffirms the reported surge in Commercial Paper and rebound in Repo, as well as the drop in Treasuries and Government Agency securities. (It shows CDs as flat though, while our January data showed a noticeable increase. See Crane Data's Feb. 14 News, "CP Soars, Repo, CDs Jump in Jan. Holdings; Comments on Daily Ports.") ICI's "January Trends" shows that money market mutual fund assets fell by $9.1 billion last month after rising $75.9 billion in December and $68.6 billion in November. Money fund assets have fallen every single week since Jan. 9, and have declined by $33.1 billion month-to-date in February, though, according to Crane Data's MFI Daily.
ICI's January "Trends" says, "The combined assets of the nation's mutual funds increased by $377.7 billion, or 2.9 percent, to $13.423 trillion in January, 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.... Stock funds posted an inflow of $37.91 billion in January, compared with an outflow of $30.67 billion in December.... Bond funds had an inflow of $32.82 billion in January, compared with an inflow of $7.25 billion in December.... Money market funds had an outflow of $10.72 billion in January, compared with an inflow of $76.46 billion in December. Funds offered primarily to institutions had an inflow of $15.49 billion. Funds offered primarily to individuals had an outflow of $26.22 billion."
As we mentioned, our MFI Daily shows that MTD through February 26, assets have decreased by $33.1 billion. Retail (taxable) assets have fallen by $7.0 billion in February and by $25.7 billion YTD, while Institutional (taxable) assets have declined by $24.9 billion in February but have risen by $268 million YTD. `Prime Institutional assets have dropped by $15.1 billion in February and have risen by $6.4 billion YTD. Prime Retail assets have fallen by $2.7 billion in Feb. and $17.8 billion YTD. We believe TAG-expiration related inflows have played a minor role in asset movements, but that special dividends (paid late last year) have been reallocated out of cash early in 2013.
ICI's Portfolio Holdings for January 2013 show Repurchase Agreements rebounding after falling sharply in December. Repos hit a record level in November, fell by $76.3 billion in December, then rebounded by $17.2 billion to $570.8 billion (23.7% of assets). They remain the largest holding in taxable money funds. Holdings of Certificates of Deposits remained the second largest position, though they dipped by $2.7 billion to $478.3 billion (19.9%). Treasury Bills & Securities fell by $24.9 billion, but they remained the third largest segment with $444.7 billion (18.5%).
Commercial Paper became the fourth largest segment behind U.S. Government Agency Securities; CP holdings jumped by $39.3 billion to $386.0 billion (16.1% of assets) but Agencies fell by $15.1 billion to $332.2 billion (13.8% of taxable assets). Notes (including Corporate and Bank) fell fractionally to $104.4 billion (4.3% of assets), and Other holdings dropped by $11.2 billion (we believe due to a plunge in VRDN holdings) to $74.2 billion (3.1%).
The Number of Accounts Outstanding in ICI's Holdings series for taxable money funds decreased by 325,567 to 24.794 million, while the Number of Funds remained flat at 400. The Average Maturity of Portfolios lengthened by 3 days to 48 days in January. Since January 2012, WAMs of Taxable money funds have lengthened by 4 days.
Finally, note that the archived version of our Money Fund Intelligence XLS monthly spreadsheet -- see our Content Page to download -- now has Portfolio Composition and Maturity Distribution totals and final data corrections updated as of Jan. 31, 2013. We revise these following the monthly publication of our final Money Fund Portfolio Holdings data.
