ICI's latest "Trends in Mutual Fund Investing, February 2013" shows that money fund assets dropped by $31.7 billion, or 1.2%, in February after dropping $9.1 billion in January. ICI also released its latest "Month-End Portfolio Holdings of Taxable Money Funds," which shows declines in holdings of Repurchase Agreements, U.S. Government Agency securities and Certificates of Deposit during February. (See Crane Data's March 14 News, "February Portfolio Holdings Update; Europe Highest Since Nov. 2011.") Though money fund assets have risen in the past week (through 3/26) by $9.8 billion, they remain down by $15.5 billion month-to-date through Tuesday, according to Crane Data's Money Fund Intelligence Daily.
ICI's February "Trends" says, "The combined assets of the nation's mutual funds increased by $61.1 billion, or 0.5 percent, to $13.485 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.... Bond funds had an inflow of $20.17 billion in February, compared with an inflow of $32.74 billion in January.... Money market funds had an outflow of $31.60 billion in February, compared with an outflow of $11.10 billion in January. Funds offered primarily to institutions had an outflow of $27.09 billion. Funds offered primarily to individuals had an outflow of $4.50 billion."
Year-to-date through 3/26, money fund assets tracked by our MFI Daily have declined by $55.6 billion (after rising $149 billion in November and December 2012). Retail (taxable) assets have risen by $2.5 billion in March and have fallen by $24.2 billion YTD, while Institutional (taxable) assets have declined by $15.6 billion in March and by $22.1 billion YTD. Prime Institutional assets have fallen by $9.1 billion in March MTD and by $5.9 billion YTD. Prime Retail assets have risen by $1.5 billion in March and have fallen by $16.3 billion YTD.
ICI's Portfolio Holdings for February 2013 show that Repos fell by $15.5 billion to $554.5 billion (23.3% of assets); they remain the largest holding in taxable money funds. Holdings of Certificates of Deposits remained the second largest position, though they dropped by $10.1 billion to $468.5 billion (19.7%). Treasury Bills & Securities, the third largest segment, increased by $11.4 billion to $456.0 billion (19.2%).
Commercial Paper remained the fourth largest segment behind U.S. Government Agency Securities; CP holdings dipped by $3.8 billion to $382.5 billion (16.1% of assets) and Agencies fell by $10.2 billion to $321.9 billion (13.6% of taxable assets). Notes (including Corporate and Bank) rose fractionally (up $3.1 billion) to $107.5 billion (4.5% of assets), and Other holdings dipped by $3.8 billion to $70.2 billion (3.0%).
The Number of Accounts Outstanding in ICI's Holdings series for taxable money funds increased by 9,738 to 24.856 million, while the Number of Funds remained flat at 401. The Average Maturity of Portfolios lengthened by 1 day to 49 days in February. Over the past year, 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 Feb. 28, 2013. We revise these following the monthly publication of our final Money Fund Portfolio Holdings data. Our revised March MFI shows the Crane Money Fund Average with the following Portfolio Composition: Treas 21%, Govt 16%, Repo 28%, CD 12%, CP 10%, ABCP 6%, FRN 3%, MTN 0%, FA 1%, and Other 4%. Our simple average of Taxable funds shows the % Maturing in 7 Day or less at 43% with 29% maturing overnight.
