The Investment Company Institute released its latest monthly "Trends in Mutual Fund Investing" report yesterday. Their numbers confirm that assets were flat in April after a sharp drop in March. Year-to-date, MMF assets have decreased by $30.7 billion, or -1.1%, but month-to-date in May through 5/29 assets have increased by $31.7 billion (according to our MFI Daily). ICI's latest Portfolio Holdings totals show a sharp drop in Treasury holdings and a jump in Repo in April. We review ICI's latest Trends and Portfolio Composition statistics below, and we also review our latest Weekly Money Fund Portfolio Holdings data.
The latest monthly "Trends in Mutual Fund Investing" report from ICI confirm that money fund assets were relatively flat in April, following a big drop in March, a jump in February and a big drop in January. ICI's "April 2018 - Trends" shows a $0.4 billion decrease in money market fund assets in April to $2.793 trillion. This follows a $50.1 billion decrease in March, a $37.5 billion increase in February, and a $51.0 billion decrease in January. In the 12 months through April 30, money fund assets have increased by $150.9 billion, or 5.7%.
ICI's monthly report states, "The combined assets of the nation's mutual funds increased by $28.96 billion, or 0.2 percent, to $18.70 trillion in April, 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 $6.59 billion in April, compared with an inflow of $11.62 billion in March.... Money market funds had an outflow of $2.30 billion in April, compared with an outflow of $52.15 billion in March. In April funds offered primarily to institutions had an outflow of $5.22 billion and funds offered primarily to individuals had an inflow of $2.92 billion."
The latest "Trends" shows that Tax Exempt MMFs lost assets while Taxable MMFs gained marginally last month. Taxable MMFs increased by $0.8 billion in April to $2.661 trillion, after decreasing by $47.4 billion in March, increasing in February and decreasing in January. Tax-Exempt MMFs decreased $1.1 billion in April to $132.0 billion. Over the past year through 4/30/18, Taxable MMF assets increased by $146.6 billion (5.8%) while Tax-Exempt funds rose by $4.4 billion over the past year (3.4%). Bond fund assets decreased by $10.8 billion in April to $4.084 trillion; they rose by $267.6 billion (7.0%) over the past year.
Money funds now represent 14.9% (down from 15.0% the previous month) of all mutual fund assets, while bond funds represent 21.8%, according to ICI. The total number of money market funds remained flat at 382 in April, down from 418 a year ago. (Taxable money funds remained flat with 298 funds. Tax-exempt money funds also were flat at 84 funds over the last month.)
ICI also released its latest "Month-End Portfolio Holdings of Taxable Money Funds," which confirmed a plunge in Treasuries and a jump in Repos in April. Treasuries lost their position as the largest portfolio segment, down $106.4 billion, or -12.1%, to $772.8 billion or 29.0% of holdings. Treasury Bills & Securities have increased by $97.6 billion over the past 12 months, or 14.5%. (See our May 10 News, "May Money Fund Portfolio Holdings: Treasury Surge Ends; Repo Rebound.")
Repurchase Agreements regained first place among composition segments; they increased by $92.3 billion, or 11.8%, to $875.3 billion, or 32.9% of holdings. Repo holdings have risen by $44.8 billion, or 5.4%, over the past year. U.S. Government Agency Securities remained in third place; they rose by $12.9 billion, or 2.0%, to $656.6 billion, or 24.7% of holdings. Agency holdings have risen by $12.2 billion, or 1.9%, over the past 12 months.
Certificates of Deposit (CDs) stood in fourth place; they increased $12.0 billion, or 7.0%, to $184.1 billion (6.9% of assets). CDs held by money funds have fallen by $5.8 billion, or -3.1%, over 12 months. Commercial Paper remained in fifth place, increasing $4.1B, or 2.7%, to $158.5 billion (6.0% of assets). CP has increased by $41.0 billion, or 34.9%, over one year. Notes (including Corporate and Bank) were down by $95 million, or -1.5%, to $6.1 billion (0.2% of assets), and Other holdings increased to $15.0 billion.
The Number of Accounts Outstanding in ICI's series for taxable money funds increased by 1,110.2 thousand to 32.332 million, while the Number of Funds was unchanged at 298. Over the past 12 months, the number of accounts rose by 6.387 million and the number of funds decreased by 20. The Average Maturity of Portfolios was 30 days in April, down 3 days from March. Over the past 12 months, WAMs of Taxable money funds have shortened by 5 days.
In other news, Crane Data published its latest Weekly Money Fund Portfolio Holdings statistics and summary Tuesday. Our weekly holdings track a shifting subset of our monthly Portfolio Holdings collection, and the latest cut (with data as of May 25) includes Holdings information from 55 money funds (down from 69 on May 18), representing $885 billion (down from $1.208 trillion on May 18) of the $2.908 (30.4%) in total money fund assets tracked by Crane Data.
Our latest Weekly MFPH Composition summary shows Government assets dominating the holdings list with Repurchase Agreements (Repo) totaling $320.6 billion (down from $510.4 billion on May 18), or 36.2%, Treasury debt totaling $236.9 billion (down from $437.4 billion) or 26.8%, and Government Agency securities totaling $206.9 billion (down from $302.8 billion), or 23.4%. Commercial Paper (CP) totaled $34.7 billion (down from $53.0 billion), or 3.9%, and Certificates of Deposit (CDs) totaled $28.8 billion (up from $43.5 billion), or 3.3%. A total of $27.1 billion or 3.1%, was listed in the Other category (primarily Time Deposits), and VRDNs accounted for $29.6 billion, or 3.3%.
The Ten Largest Issuers in our Weekly Holdings product include: the US Treasury with $236.9 billion (26.8% of total holdings), Federal Home Loan Bank with $161.1B (18.2%), BNP Paribas with $39.9 billion (4.5%), Federal Farm Credit Bank with $35.5B (4.0%), RBC with $29.8B (3.4%), Wells Fargo with $22.1B (2.5%), Natixis with $21.7B (2.4%), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Co. with $20.4B (2.3%), Barclays PLC with $17.0B (1.9%), and JP Morgan with $15.9B (1.8%).
The Ten Largest Funds tracked in our latest Weekly include: JP Morgan US Govt ($144.5B), Wells Fargo Govt MMkt ($70.9B), Federated Govt Oblg ($68.1B), Dreyfus Govt Cash Mgmt ($64.4B), Morgan Stanley Inst Liq Govt ($54.3B), State Street Inst US Govt ($52.9B), JP Morgan Prime MM ($39.0B), JP Morgan 100% US Trs MMkt ($34.8B), Dreyfus Treas Sec Cash Mg ($34.0B), and Federated Trs Oblg ($32.3B). (Let us know if you'd like to see our latest domestic U.S. and/or "offshore" Weekly Portfolio Holdings collection and summary, or our Bond Fund Portfolio Holdings data series.)
