Crane Data recently announced its 7th annual Money Fund Intelligence Awards, recognizing the top-performing money market mutual funds, ranked by total returns, for calendar year 2015, as well as the top ranked funds for the past 5-year and 10-year periods. The January issue of our Money Fund Intelligence newsletter recognized the No. 1-ranked funds based on 1-year, 5-year and 10-year returns, through Dec. 31, 2015, in each of our major fund categories -- Prime Institutional, Government Institutional, Treasury Institutional, Prime Retail, Government Retail, Treasury Retail and Tax-Exempt. We review these below, and also review our monthly Market Share rankings, which list the largest money market fund managers for December 2015 and highlight their asset gains and losses over the past month.
Reviewing our annual MFI Awards, the Top-Performing Taxable fund overall in 2015 and top among Prime Institutional funds was BlackRock Cash Inst MMF SL (BRC01), which returned 0.19%. Next (and first among non-restricted funds) was Deutsche Daily Assets Fund Cap (DAFXX), which returned 0.16%. Among Prime Retail funds, Invesco STIC Prime Personal (AIM22) and Vanguard Prime MMF Adm (VMRXX) had the best returns in 2015 (0.11%).
The Top-Performing Government Institutional fund in 2015 was Invesco Govt TaxAdvantage Inst (TSPXX), which returned 0.11%. Davis Govt MMF (RPGXX) won the Top Government Retail fund over a 1-year period with a return of 0.06%. Morgan Stanley Inst Liq Treasury Inst (MISXX) and Western Asset Inst US Treasury Oblig MMF Inst (LUIXX) shared No. 1 in the Treasury Institutional class with returns of 0.03%, while Morgan Stanley Inst Liq Treasury Inv (MTNXX) ranked tops among Treasury Retail funds with a return of 0.03%.
For the 5-year period through Dec. 31, 2015, BlackRock Cash Inst MMF SL (BRC01) took top honors for the best performing Prime Institutional money fund with returns of 0.17%. BlackRock Cash Inst MMF Inst (BGIXX) was No. 2. Vanguard Prime MMF Adm (VMRXX) ranked No. 1 among Prime Retail with an annualized return of 0.09%. (Meeder MMF Retail was No. 2 with a return of 0.08% annualized.) BlackRock Premier Govt Inst Fund (MLPXX) ranked No. 1 among Govt Institutional funds with a return of 0.12%, while Davis Government MMF (RPGXX) ranked No. 1 among Govt Retail funds over the past 5 years with a return of 0.04%. BlackRock Cash Treasury MMF Inst (BRIXX) ranked No. 1 in 5-year performance among Treasury Inst money funds with a return of 0.02%, and Morgan Stanley Inst Liq Treas Cash Mgt (MREXX) and Invesco Treasury Personal (AIM24) ranked No. 1 among Treasury Retail funds with returns of 0.02%.
The highest‐performers of the past 10 years include: Fidelity Inst MM: MM Port Inst (FNSXX), which returned 1.51% (it was No. 1 overall and first among Prime Inst MMFs); Meeder Money Market Fund Retail (FFMXX), which returned 1.39% (the highest among Prime Retail); BlackRock Premier Govt Inst (MLPXX), which returned 1.45%, (No. 1 among Govt Inst funds); and Vanguard Federal Money Market Fund (VMFXX), which ranked No. 1 among Govt Retail funds (1.27%). BlackRock Cash Treasury MMF Inst (BRIXX) returned the most among Treasury Inst funds over the past 10 years at 1.26%; and, Morgan Stanley Inst Liq Treasury Inv (MTNXX) ranked No. 1 among Treasury Retail MMFs at 1.12%.
We're also giving out awards for the best‐performing Tax‐Exempt money funds. USAA Tax Exempt CA MMF (UCAXX) ranked No. 1 for the 1-year period ended Dec. 31, 2015, with a return of 0.10%. Over the last 5 years, BMO Tax Free MMF Premier (MFIXX) was the top performer with a return of 0.13%. BMO Tax Free MMF Premier also was the top ranked fund for the 10-year period ended Dec. 31, 2015, with a return of 1.15%. Winners will receive a letter and certificate stating their No. 1 ranking, the number of funds in their category, and the criteria used. (The tables in our latest MFI show the No. 1 ranked money fund for each category based on 1‐year, 5‐year, and 10‐year annualized total returns.)
Our January Money Fund Market Share, with data as of Dec. 31, 2015, shows asset increases for just over half of the largest US money fund complexes in the latest month and increases for most complexes over the past 3 months. Assets increased by $44.1 billion overall, or 1.6%, in December; over the last 3 months, assets are up $101.4 billion, or 3.9%. For the past 12 months through Dec. 31, total assets are up $32.6 billion, or 1.2%.
The biggest gainers in December were Fidelity, Goldman Sachs, BlackRock, Federated, Schwab, and BofA, rising by $14.0 billion, $13.5B, $9.3B, $7.2B, $4.5B, and $3.5 billion, respectively. Goldman Sachs, Fidelity, Wells Fargo, SSGA, and BlackRock had the largest increases over the 3 months through Dec. 31, 2015, rising by $30.6 billion, $27.9B, $11.8B, $11.3B, and $8.0B, respectively. (Our domestic U.S. "Family" rankings are available in our MFI XLS product, our global rankings are available in our MFI International product, and the combined "Family & Global Rankings" are available to our Money Fund Wisdom subscribers.)
Over the past year through Dec. 31, 2015, Fidelity showed the largest asset increase (up $31.7B, or 7.6%), followed by Morgan Stanley (up $17.6B, or 15.5%), SSgA (up $13.7B, or 16.7%), Goldman Sachs (up $7.4B, or 4.6%), and Vanguard (up $5.7B, or 3.3%). Other asset gainers for the year include: Northern (up $4.8B, 6.0%), BlackRock (up $3.2B, or 1.4%), Wells Fargo ($3.1B, 2.6%), Franklin (up $2.0B, 9.3%), and HSBC (up $1.7B, or 13.4%). The biggest decliners over 12 months include: JP Morgan (down $14.8B, or -5.7%), Invesco (down $8.3B, or -13.9%), Dreyfus (down $7.0B, or -4.1%), Federated (down $4.1B, or -1.9%), and Deutsche (down $4.1B, or -11.9%). (Note that money fund assets are volatile month to month.)
Our latest domestic U.S. money fund Family Rankings show that Fidelity Investments remains the largest money fund manager with $445.5 billion, or 16.6% of all assets (up $14.0 billion in December, up $27.9B over 3 mos., and up $31.7B over 12 months). Fidelity was followed by JPMorgan with $244.7 billion, or 9.1% market share (down $4.5B, down $9.9B, and down $14.8B for the past 1-month, 3-mos. and 12-mos., respectively). BlackRock remained the third largest MMF manager with $225.1 billion, or 8.4% of assets (down $9.3B, up $8.0B, and up $3.2B). Federated Investors was fourth with $211.9 billion, or 7.9% of assets (up $7.2B, up $5.7B, and down $4.0B). Vanguard remained in fifth place with $179.3 billion, or 6.7%, (up $2.1B, up $3.5B, and up $5.7B).
Both Goldman Sachs and Schwab moved ahead of Dreyfus to become the sixth and seventh largest MMF manager, respectively. Goldman Sachs moved to sixth place from eighth place with $167.8 (6.3%), while Schwab ($164.5B, 6.1%) stayed in seventh place. Dreyfus fell to eighth place from sixth with $163.0B (6.1%). Also, Morgan Stanley moved up a spot to ninth place with $131.0B (4.9%), dropping Wells Fargo to tenth place with $122.8B (4.6%). The eleventh through twentieth largest U.S. money fund managers (in order) include: SSgA ($95.7B, or 3.6%), Northern ($85.3B, or 3.2%), BofA ($51.7B, or 1.9%), which moved ahead of Invesco ($51.6B, or 1.9%), Western Asset ($44.0B, or 1.6%), First American ($40.0B, or 1.5%), UBS ($36.8B, or 1.4%), Deutsche ($30.5B, or 1.1%), Franklin ($23.6B, or 0.9%), and RBC ($16.1B, or 0.6%), which displaced American Funds from the top 20. Crane Data currently tracks 65 U.S. MMF managers, one less than last month. (Delaware exited the space).
When European and "offshore" money fund assets -- those domiciled in places like Dublin, Luxembourg, and the Cayman Islands -- are included, the top 10 managers match the U.S. list, except for Goldman moving up to No. 4 (dropping Vanguard to 7). Looking at the largest Global Money Fund Manager Rankings, the combined market share assets of our MFI XLS (domestic U.S.) and our MFI International ("offshore"), the largest money market fund families are: Fidelity ($452.0 billion), JPMorgan ($381.6 billion), BlackRock ($325.6 billion), Goldman Sachs ($262.9 billion), and Federated ($220.0 billion). Dreyfus/BNY Mellon ($188.9B), Vanguard ($179.3B), Schwab ($164.5B), Morgan Stanley ($153.2B), and Wells Fargo ($123.7B) round out the top 10. These totals include offshore US Dollar money funds, as well as Euro and Pound Sterling (GBP) funds converted into US dollar totals.
Finally, our January Money Fund Intelligence and MFI XLS show that both net and gross yields increased sharply in December, driven by the Fed's rate hike. The Crane Money Fund Average, which includes all taxable funds covered by Crane Data (currently 813), rose 3 basis points to 0.06% for the 7-Day Yield (annualized, net) Average, while the 30-Day Yield also went up 3 basis points 0.05%. The Gross 7-Day Yield was 0.26% (up 8 basis points), while the 30-Day Yield was 0.24% (up 6 basis points). Our Crane 100 Money Fund Index shows an average 7-Day Yield of 0.13 (up 8 basis points) and an average 30-Day Yield of 0.10% (up from 0.05%). Also, our Crane 100 shows a Gross 7-Day Yield of 0.32% (up 10 basis points), and a 30-Day Yield of 0.29% (up 7 basis points). For the 12 month return through 12/31/15, our Crane MF Average returned 0.02% and our Crane 100 returned 0.04%. The number of funds dropped to 813, from 817 last month.
Our Prime Institutional MF Index (7-day) yielded 0.16% (up 9 bps), while the Crane Govt Inst Index was at 0.06% (up 4 basis points). The Crane `Treasury Retail and Govt Retail Index yielded 00.1% (unchanged). The Treasury Inst Index yielded 0.04% (up 3 basis points), while the Prime Retail Index yielded 0.03% (up 2 bps). The Crane Tax Exempt MF Index also yielded 0.01% (unchanged). The Gross 7-Day Yields for these indexes were: Prime Inst 0.39% (up 12 basis points from last month), Govt Inst 0.23% (up 9 bps), Treasury Inst 0.17% (up 7 bps), and Tax Exempt 0.10% (up 2 bps) in December. The Crane 100 MF Index returned on average 0.01% for 1-month, 0.02% for 3-month, 0.04% for YTD, 0.04% for 1-year, 0.03% for 3-years (annualized), 0.04% for 5-year, and 1.27% for 10-years. (Contact us if you'd like to see our latest MFI XLS, Crane Indexes file or market share numbers.)
