The Investment Company Institute released its latest weekly "Money Market Fund Assets" report and its latest monthly "Trends in Mutual Fund Investing" reports yesterday. The former shows MMF assets rising again in the latest week, while the latter shows a $21.4 billion increase in money market fund assets in October to $2.885 trillion, which follows a $3.4 billion decrease in Sept., a $31.6 billion increase in August, a $14.9 billion increase in July, and a $30.1 billion drop in June. In the 12 months through Oct. 31, money fund assets have increased by $145.7 billion, or 5.3%. (Month-to-date in November through 11/28, assets have increased by $37.1 billion, $8.5 billion of which is from Prime MMFs, according to our MFI Daily.) ICI also released its latest Portfolio Holdings totals, which show a jump in Repo and Treasuries in October. We review ICI's Assets, Trends and latest Portfolio Composition statistics below.
The new assets series shows MMFs rising in the latest week, their 6th straight week of strong gains. Government, Prime and Tax Exempt MMFs all increased, though Institutional assets declined slightly. Overall assets are now up $106 billion, or 3.7%, YTD, and they've increased by $145 billion, or 5.2%, over 52 weeks. Retail MMFs have increased by $106 billion, or 10.5%, while Inst MMFs are perfectly flat, up 0.0%, YTD. Over 52 weeks, Retail money funds have gained $131 billion, or 13.3%, while Inst money funds are up $14 billion, or 0.8%. We review the latest asset figures below.
ICI writes, "Total money market fund assets increased by $6.16 billion to $2.94 trillion for the eight-day period ended Wednesday, November 28, the Investment Company Institute reported today. Among taxable money market funds, government funds increased by $110 million and prime funds increased by $5.11 billion. Tax-exempt money market funds increased by $937 million." Total Government MMF assets, which include Treasury funds too, stand at $2.257 trillion (76.7% of all money funds), while Total Prime MMFs stand at $548.0 billion (18.6%). Tax Exempt MMFs total $138.5 billion, or 4.7%.
They explain, "Assets of retail money market funds increased by $10.86 billion to $1.12 trillion. Among retail funds, government money market fund assets increased by $6.92 billion to $666.07 billion, prime money market fund assets increased by $2.90 billion to $323.62 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets increased by $1.04 billion to $130.11 billion." Retail assets account for over a third of total assets, or 38.0%, and Government Retail assets make up 59.5% of all Retail MMFs.
ICI's release adds, "Assets of institutional money market funds decreased by $4.70 billion to $1.82 trillion. Among institutional funds, government money market fund assets decreased by $6.81 billion to $1.59 trillion, prime money market fund assets increased by $2.21 billion to $224.38 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $99 million to $8.37 billion." Institutional assets account for 62.0% of all MMF assets, with Government Inst assets making up 87.2% of all Institutional MMFs.
The monthly "Trends" report states, "The combined assets of the nation's mutual funds decreased by $1.00 trillion, or 5.2 percent, to $18.42 trillion in October, 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 outflow of $31.59 billion in October, compared with an inflow of $11.27 billion in September.... Money market funds had an inflow of $18.09 billion in October, compared with an outflow of $6.61 billion in September. In October funds offered primarily to institutions had an outflow of $8.96 billion and funds offered primarily to individuals had an inflow of $27.04 billion."
The latest "Trends" shows that Taxable MMFs lost assets and Tax Exempt MMFs gained assets last month. Taxable MMFs increased by $18.4 billion in October to $2.751 trillion, after decreasing $3.8 billion in September, increasing by $32.0 billion in August, increasing by $19.3 billion in July, and decreasing by $27.1 billion in June. Tax-Exempt MMFs increased $2.9 billion in October to $134.2 billion. Over the past year through 10/31/18, Taxable MMF assets increased by $139.6 billion (5.3%) while Tax-Exempt funds rose by $6.1 billion over the past year (4.8%). Bond fund assets decreased by $63.7 billion in October to $4.103 trillion; they've risen by $79.5 billion (2.0%) over the past year.
Money funds represent 15.7% of all mutual fund assets (a full percentage point higher than the previous month), while bond funds account for 22.3%, according to ICI. The total number of money market funds fell 2 to 381 in October, down from 394 a year ago. Taxable money funds decreased 2 to 297 funds, and tax-exempt money funds were unchanged at 84 funds over the last month.
ICI also released its latest "Month-End Portfolio Holdings of Taxable Money Funds," which confirmed a jump in Repo and Treasuries in October. Repurchase Agreements remained in first place among composition segments; they increased by $22.8 billion, or 2.5%, to $942.9 billion, or 34.3% of holdings. Repo holdings have risen by $32.7 billion, or 3.6%, over the past year. (For more, see our November 13 News, "Nov. MF Portfolio Holdings: Treasury, Repo, CDs Up; Fed Repo Near Zero.")
Treasuries rose by $18.6 billion, or 2.4%, to $783.6 billion, or 28.5% of holdings. Treasury securities have increased by $73.4 billion over the past 12 months, or 10.3%. U.S. Government Agency securities were the third largest segment; they rose by $10.2 billion, or 1.7%, to $630.7 billion, or 22.9% of holdings. Agency holdings have fallen by $31.8 billion, or -4.8%, over the past 12 months.
Certificates of Deposit (CDs) stood in fourth place; they increased $9.8 billion, or 5.0%, to $206.7 billion (7.5% of assets). CDs held by money funds have fallen by $8.2 billion, or -3.8%, over 12 months. Commercial Paper remained in fifth place, increasing $1.6 billion, or 0.9%, to $191.6 billion (7.0% of assets). CP has increased by $52.0 billion, or 37.3%, over one year. Notes (including Corporate and Bank) were up by $174 million, or 2.2%, to $7.9 billion (0.3% of assets), and Other holdings decreased to $11.7 billion.
The Number of Accounts Outstanding in ICI's series for taxable money funds increased by 604.7 thousand to 33.141 million, while the Number of Funds fell by 2 to 297. Over the past 12 months, the number of accounts rose by 6.436 million and the number of funds decreased by 14. The Average Maturity of Portfolios was 32 days in October, down 1 day from Sept. Over the past 12 months, WAMs of Taxable money funds have increased by 2 days.
