The Investment Company Institute released its latest weekly "Money Market Mutual Fund Assets," its latest monthly "Trends in Mutual Fund Investing," and its latest "Month-End Portfolio Holdings of Taxable Money Funds" updates yesterday. The first report shows that `money fund assets rebounded in the latest week, after falling last month and the past 6 weeks in a row. ICI's other monthly report confirmed that Agency holdings fell while Repo and Treasuries moved higher in March. (See our April 12 News, "April Money Fund Portfolio Holdings: Credit Flat, Fed Repo Up Big.") We review these latest reports, as well as April month-to-date assets, below.
ICI's weekly assets report shows both overall and Prime money fund assets down slightly, but roughly flat. It says, "Total money market fund assets increased by $15.42 billion to $2.64 trillion for the week ended Wednesday, April 26, the Investment Company Institute reported today. Among taxable money market funds, government funds increased by $14.12 billion and prime funds increased by $1.70 billion. Tax-exempt money market funds decreased by $400 million." Total Government MMF assets, which include Treasury funds too, stand at $2.116 trillion (80.1% of all money funds), while Total Prime MMFs stand at $398.1 billion (15.1%). Tax Exempt MMFs total $127.8 billion, or 4.8%.
It explains, "Assets of retail money market funds decreased by $7.57 billion to $966.28 billion. Among retail funds, government money market fund assets decreased by $5.97 billion to $591.71 billion, prime money market fund assets decreased by $830 million to $251.64 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $770 million to $122.92 billion." Retail assets account for over a third of total assets, or 36.6%, and Government Retail assets make up 61.2% of all Retail MMFs.
The release continues, "Assets of institutional money market funds increased by $22.99 billion to $1.68 trillion. Among institutional funds, government money market fund assets increased by $20.09 billion to $1.52 trillion, prime money market fund assets increased by $2.53 billion to $146.49 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets increased by $370 million to $4.89 billion." Institutional assets account for 63.4% of all MMF assets, with Government Inst assets making up 91.0% of all Institutional MMFs.
ICI's latest "Trends in Mutual Fund Investing - March 2017" shows a $17.7 billion decrease in money market fund assets in March to $2.664 trillion. The decrease follows an increase of $0.4 billion in February, $46.6 billion in January, and $6.5 billion in December. In the 12 months through March 31, money fund assets were down $94.6 billion, or -3.4%. (Month-to-date in April through 4/26/17, our Money Fund Intelligence Daily shows total assets down by $6.4 billion.)
The monthly report states, "The combined assets of the nation's mutual funds increased by $72.17 billion, or 0.4 percent, to $16.99 trillion in March, 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 explains, "Bond funds had an inflow of $29.1 billion in March, compared with an inflow of $23.7 in February.... Money market funds had an inflow of $18.6 billion in March, compared with an inflow of $197 million in February. In March funds offered primarily to institutions had an outflow of $26.79 billion and funds offered primarily to individuals had an inflow of $8.14 billion."
The latest "Trends" shows that both Taxable MMFs and Tax-Exempt MMFs declined last month. Taxable MMFs decreased by $17.5 billion in March, after increasing $0.8 billion in February and decreasing $46.8 billion in January. Tax-Exempt MMFs decreased $0.3 billion in March, after decreasing $0.3 billion in February and adding $0.1 billion in Jan.
Over the past year through 3/31/17, Taxable MMF assets increased by $2.3 billion while Tax-Exempt funds fell by $95.5 billion. Money funds now represent 15.7% (down from 15.9% last month) of all mutual fund assets, while bond funds represent 22.2% <b:>`_. The total number of money market funds was up 1 to 420 in March, but down from 478 a year ago. (Taxable money funds have increased from 319 to 320 and Tax-exempt money funds were unchanged at 100 over the last month.)
ICI's Portfolio Holdings showed a big drop in Agencies in March and a jump in Repo and Treasuries. Repo remained the largest portfolio segment and rose by $16.6 billion, or 2.1%, to $808.1 billion or 31.9% of holdings. Repo has increased by $211.0 billion over the past 12 months, or 35.3%. Treasury Bills & Securities remained in second place among composition segments, jumping $40.9 billion, or 5.6%, to $776.3 billion, or 30.6% of holdings. Treasury holdings rose by $231.7 billion, or 42.5%, over the past year. U.S. Government Agency Securities remained in third place, but fell $49.0 billion, or -7.1%, to $643.5 billion or 25.4% of holdings. Govt Agency holdings rose by $181.8 billion, or 39.4%, over the past 12 months.
Certificates of Deposit (CDs) stood in fourth place; they increased $753 million, or 0.4%, to $182.1 billion (7.2% of assets). CDs held by money funds fell by $325.7 billion, or -64.1%, over 12 months. Commercial Paper remained in fifth place and decreased $3.7B, or -3.2%, to $109.6 billion (4.3% of assets). CP plummeted by $223.8 billion, or -67.1%, over one year. Notes (including Corporate and Bank) were down by $1.1 billion, or -12.3%, to $42.8 billion (0.3% of assets), and Other holdings inched down to $28.7 billion.
The Number of Accounts Outstanding in ICI's series for taxable money funds increased by 177.0 thousand to 25.658 million, while the Number of Funds inched up by one to 320. Over the past 12 months, the number of accounts rose by 2.524 million and the number of funds declined by 17. The Average Maturity of Portfolios was 38 days in March, down 2 days from Feb. Over the past 12 months, WAMs of Taxable money funds have shortened by 1 day.
