Assets Drop; Prime Down Again
The Investment Company Institute's latest "Money Market Fund Assets" report shows that Prime money market funds dipped for their second week in a row, but they've still risen by $74.3 billion, or 20.1%, year-to-date. ICI writes, "Total money market fund assets decreased by $17.90 billion to $2.73 trillion for the week ended Wednesday, November 1st, the Investment Company Institute reported today. Among taxable money market funds, government funds decreased by $16.31 billion and prime funds decreased by $1.36 billion. Tax-exempt money market funds increased by $219 million." Total Government MMF assets, which include Treasury funds too, stand at $2.157 trillion (79.1% of all money funds), while Total Prime MMFs stand at $444.0 billion (16.3%). Tax Exempt MMFs total $128.3 billion, or 4.7%. They explain, "Assets of retail money market funds increased by $642 million to $981.74 billion. Among retail funds, government money market fund assets increased by $493 million to $596.34 billion, prime money market fund assets increased by $1.06 billion to $263.32 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $78 million to $122.08 billion." Retail assets account for over a third of total assets, or 36.0%, and Government Retail assets make up 60.7% of all Retail MMFs. ICI's release adds, "Assets of institutional money market funds decreased by $18.54 billion to $1.75 trillion. Among institutional funds, government money market fund assets decreased by $15.82 billion to $1.56 trillion, prime money market fund assets decreased by $2.42 billion to $180.68 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $297 million to $6.22 billion." Institutional assets account for 64.0% of all MMF assets, with Government Inst assets making up 89.3% of all Institutional MMFs. Note that money fund assets normally drop on weeks including a month-end or tax payment date.
