ICI: Money Fund Assets Surge
ICI's latest "Money Market Fund Assets" report shows money fund assets rising for the 6th week in a row. Money fund assets turned positive for the year-to-date for the first time in 2018 last week, and they've now reached their highest level since April 2010. MMFs have increased by $40 billion, or 1.4%, YTD, and they've increased by $229 billion, or 8.7%, over 52 weeks. ICI writes, "Total money market fund assets increased by $37.50 billion to $2.88 trillion for the week ended Wednesday, June 6, the Investment Company Institute reported [Thursday]. Among taxable money market funds, government funds increased by $31.68 billion and prime funds increased by $6.58 billion. Tax-exempt money market funds decreased by $761 million." Total Government MMF assets, which include Treasury funds too, stand at $2.269 trillion (78.8% of all money funds), while Total Prime MMFs stand at $469.8 billion (16.3%). Tax Exempt MMFs total $138.7 billion, or 4.8%. They explain, "Assets of retail money market funds increased by $4.64 billion to $1.03 trillion. Among retail funds, government money market fund assets increased by $2.84 billion to $632.78 billion, prime money market fund assets increased by $2.91 billion to $266.65 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $1.10 billion to $130.68 billion." Retail assets account for over a third of total assets, or 35.8%, and Government Retail assets make up 61.4% of all Retail MMFs. ICI's release adds, "Assets of institutional money market funds increased by $32.85 billion to $1.85 trillion. Among institutional funds, government money market fund assets increased by $28.84 billion to $1.64 trillion, prime money market fund assets increased by $3.67 billion to $203.10 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets increased by $343 million to $8.06 billion." Institutional assets account for 64.2% of all MMF assets, with Government Inst assets making up 88.6% of all Institutional MMFs. (See also, Reuters' "U.S. money market funds see biggest inflows in nearly 5 years -Lipper".)
