The January issue of Crane Data's Money Fund Intelligence was sent out to subscribers this morning. The latest edition of our flagship monthly newsletter features the articles: "Reviewing Highlights of '13; More Regs & Rates in '14," which reviews the major stories of 2013 and gives an outlook for the coming year; "Treasury Partners' Klein on Portal, Separate Accounts," which interviews one of the principals of a major online money market trading "portal"; and, "Top MMFs of 2013; Our 5th Annual MFI Awards," which reviews the top-performing money funds of 2013 and of the past 5 and 10 years. We've also updated our Money Fund Wisdom database query system with Dec. 31, 2013, performance statistics and rankings, and will be sending out our MFI XLS spreadsheet shortly. (MFI, MFI XLS and our Crane Index products are available to subscribers at our Content center.) Our December 31 Money Fund Portfolio Holdings data are scheduled to go out on Friday, Jan. 10.
The "profile" with Treasury Partner's Klein says, "This month, we interview Jerry Klein, Managing Director/Partner of Treasury Partners, and discuss the online money market fund trading portal business, as well as recent trends in separately managed accounts and cash investing. Our Q&A follows." (Watch for excerpts of this interview later this month, or write us to request the full article.)
Our article on the MFI Awards explains, "In this issue, we once again recognize some of the top-performing money funds, ranked by total returns, for calendar 2013, as well as the top-ranked funds for the past 5-year and past 10-year periods. We present the following funds with our annual Money Fund Intelligence Awards. On page 7, we show a table with the winners. These include the No. 1-ranked funds based on 1-year, 5-year and 10-year returns, through Dec. 31, 2013, in each of our major fund categories (our "Type") -- Prime Institutional, Government Institutional, Treasury Institutional, Prime Retail, Government Retail, and Treasury Retail."
MFI says, "The top-performing Taxable fund overall in 2013 and top among Prime Institutional funds was BlackRock Cash Inst MMF Inst (BGIXX), which returned 0.15%. (We excluded BlackRock Cash's SL class due to its limited availability.) Among Prime Retail funds, Meeder Money Market Fund Retail (FFMXX) again had the best return in 2013 (0.14%). (It previously was named Flex-fund.) Western Asset Inst Govt MM A (INGXX) won the Top Government Institutional fund over a 1-year period with a return of 0.05%, while Davis Government MMF A (RPGXX) won the MFI Award for Government Retail Money Funds (1-year return). Morgan Stanley Inst Liq Treas Inst (MISXX) ranked No. 1 in the Treasury Institutional class, and Morgan Stanley Inst Liq Treas Cash Mgt (MREXX) ranked tops among Treasury Retail funds."
On the "Top Funds Over Past Five Years, we write, "For the 5-year period through Dec. 31, 2013, Touchstone Inst MMF (TINXX) again took top honors for the best-performing money fund with a return of 0.34%. Meeder Money Market Fund Retail ranked No. 1 among Prime Retail with an annualized return of 0.23%. Western Asset Inst Govt MM A ranked No. 1 among Govt Institutional funds, while Vanguard Federal Money Mkt Fund (VMFXX) and Weitz Government Money Mkt (WGMXX) both ranked No. 1 among Treasury Retail funds over the past 5 years. Vanguard Admiral Treasury MM (VUSXX) ranked No. 1 in 5-year performance among Treasury Inst money funds, and Northern Trust Treasury Money Mkt (NITXX) ranked No. 1 among Treasury Retail funds.
We awarded the "Best Money Funds of the Decade titles to, "The highest-performers of the past 10 years include: DWS Daily Assets Fund Inst (DAFXX), which returned 1.94% (No. 1 overall and first among Prime Inst); Fidelity Select MM Portfolio (FSLXX), which returned 1.78% (the highest among Prime Retail); American Beacon US Govt Select (AAOXX), which returned 1.74%, (No. 1 among Govt Inst funds); and, Vanguard Federal Money Market Fund (VMFXX), which ranked No. 1 among Govt Retail funds (1.67%). Milestone Treasury Obligs Fin (MIL01) returned the most among Treasury Institutional funds over the past 10 years; and, Goldman Sachs FS Trs Obl Sel (GSOXX) ranked No. 1 among Treasury Retail money funds."
MFI adds, "See our additional rankings tables on pages 9-11, and see our Money Fund Intelligence XLS for more detailed listings, percentiles, and rankings. Look for more details in coming days on the website too (www.cranedata.com). Winners will receive a letter and certificate stating their No. 1 ranking and the criteria used."
Finally, we're look forward to seeing some of you at our "basic training" conference event, Crane's Money Fund University, in just over 2 weeks (Jan. 23-24, 2014) in Providence, Rhode Island. Our 4th annual MFU will contain a heavier focus on money fund regulations, and will, as always, cover the basics of money funds, interest rates, and overviews of various money markets. Our next main event, Crane's Money Fund Symposium, will take place June 23-25, 2014, in Boston, and our second annual "offshore" event, European Money Fund Symposium, will take place Sept. 23-24 in London. Registrations and sponsorships are now being accepted for our 2014 Symposium, and the preliminary agenda is being finalized. (Watch for the agenda late this week or next.)
