The Investment Company Institute released its latest weekly "Money Market Fund Assets" and its latest monthly "Trends in Mutual Fund Investing" reports yesterday. The former shows MMF assets jumping again in the latest week, while the latter shows an $80.4 billion increase in money market fund assets in November to $2.965 trillion. This follows a $21.4 billion increase in October, a $3.4 billion decrease in Sept., and a $31.6 billion increase in August. In the 12 months through Nov. 30, money fund assets have increased by $169.8 billion, or 6.1%. (Month-to-date in December through 12/26, assets have increased by $69.4 billion, with $19.9 billion of this from Prime MMFs, according to our MFI Daily.) ICI also released its latest Portfolio Holdings totals, which show another jump in Repo and Treasuries in November. We review ICI's Assets, Trends and latest Portfolio Composition statistics below.
Overall assets are now up $201 billion, or 7.1%, YTD in 2018, and they've increased by $197 billion, or 6.9%, over 52 weeks. Retail MMFs have increased by $130 billion, or 12.9%, while Inst MMFs are up just $40, or 2.2%, YTD. Over 52 weeks, Retail money funds have gained $138 billion, or 13.7%, while Inst money funds are up $51 billion, or 2.8%. We review the latest asset figures below. The latest asset totals show MMFs rising sharply again, the 9th week of gains out of the past 10. Government, Prime and Tax Exempt MMFs all increased, led by huge Retail inflows.
ICI writes, "Total money market fund assets increased by $30.28 billion to $3.04 trillion for the week ended Wednesday, December 26, the Investment Company Institute reported today. Among taxable money market funds, government funds increased by $23.33 billion and prime funds increased by $5.78 billion. Tax-exempt money market funds increased by $1.17 billion." Total Government MMF assets, which include Treasury funds too, stand at $2.329 trillion (76.6% of all money funds), while Total Prime MMFs stand at $565.3 billion (18.6%). Tax Exempt MMFs total $144.7 billion, or 4.8%.
They explain, "Assets of retail money market funds increased by $28.01 billion to $1.17 trillion. Among retail funds, government money market fund assets increased by $20.53 billion to $694.26 billion, prime money market fund assets increased by $5.95 billion to $341.43 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets increased by $1.54 billion to $136.41 billion." Retail assets account for over a third of total assets, or 38.6%, and Government Retail assets make up 59.2% of all Retail MMFs.
ICI's release adds, "Assets of institutional money market funds increased by $2.27 billion to $1.87 trillion. Among institutional funds, government money market fund assets increased by $2.81 billion to $1.63 trillion, prime money market fund assets decreased by $166 million to $223.83 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $374 million to $8.26 billion." Institutional assets account for 61.4% of all MMF assets, with Government Inst assets making up 87.6% of all Institutional MMFs.
The monthly "Trends" report states, "The combined assets of the nation’s mutual funds increased by $219.55 billion, or 1.2 percent, to $18.66 trillion in November, 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 $25.97 billion in November, compared with an outflow of $31.59 billion in October.... Money market funds had an inflow of $77.23 billion in November, compared with an inflow of $18.09 billion in October. In November funds offered primarily to institutions had an inflow of $58.34 billion and funds offered primarily to individuals had an inflow of $18.89 billion."
The latest "Trends" shows that both Taxable and Tax Exempt MMFs gained assets last month. Taxable MMFs increased by $75.7 billion in November to $2.826 trillion, after increasing $18.4 billion in October, decreasing $3.8 billion in September, and increasing by $32.0 billion in August. Tax-Exempt MMFs increased $4.7 billion in November to $138.9 billion. Over the past year through 11/30/18, Taxable MMF assets increased by $159.5 billion (6.0%) while Tax-Exempt funds rose by $10.3 billion over the past year (8.0%). Bond fund assets decreased by $16.8 billion in November to $4.087 trillion; they've risen by $51.0 billion (1.2%) over the past year. (Bond ETF assets increased by $15.0 billion to $614.1 billion; they're up $66.4 billion over 12 months.)
Money funds represent 15.9% of all mutual fund assets (up from 15.7% the previous month), while bond funds account for 21.9%, according to ICI. The total number of money market funds fell 13 to 368 in November, and is down from 391 a year ago. (BlackRock's BIF Money Fund series liquidated last month.) Taxable money funds decreased 10 to 287 funds, and tax-exempt money funds decreased by 3 to 81 funds over the last month.
ICI also released its latest "Month-End Portfolio Holdings of Taxable Money Funds," which confirmed yet another jump in Repo and Treasuries in November. Repurchase Agreements remained in first place among composition segments; they increased by $34.5 billion, or 3.7%, to $977.4 billion, or 34.6% of holdings. Repo holdings have risen by $73.0 billion, or 8.1%, over the past year. (For more, see our December 13 News, "Dec. MF Portfolio Holdings Break 3.0 Tril; T-Bills Up, Repo Breaks 1.0T.")
Treasuries rose by $20.9 billion, or 2.7%, to $804.5 billion, or 28.5% of holdings. Treasury securities have increased by $102.7 billion over the past 12 months, or 14.6%. U.S. Government Agency securities were the third largest segment; they fell by $10.7 billion, or -1.7%, to $619.9 billion, or 21.9% of holdings. Agency holdings have fallen by $56.6 billion, or -8.4%, over the past 12 months.
Certificates of Deposit (CDs) stood in fourth place; they decreased $1.3 billion, or -0.6%, to $205.3 billion (7.3% of assets). CDs held by money funds have fallen by $12.6 billion, or -5.8%, over 12 months. Commercial Paper remained in fifth place, increasing $573 million, or 0.3%, to $192.1 billion (6.8% of assets). CP has increased by $45.8 billion, or 31.3%, over one year. Notes (including Corporate and Bank) were down by $569 million, or -7.2%, to $7.4 billion (0.3% of assets), and Other holdings increased to $19.6 billion.
The Number of Accounts Outstanding in ICI's series for taxable money funds decreased by 278.0 thousand to 32.863 million, while the Number of Funds fell by 10 to 287. Over the past 12 months, the number of accounts rose by 6.284 million and the number of funds decreased by 21. The Average Maturity of Portfolios was 31 days in November, down 1 day from Oct. Over the past 12 months, WAMs of Taxable money funds have increased by 1 day.
