Money fund assets showed their largest increase since December and one of the largest jumps ever in the latest week, reaching their highest level since November 2009. This follows a slight decline last week, which broke a record-tying 14 straight weeks of increases. ICI's latest "Money Market Fund Assets" report shows that MMF totals have increased by $293.4 billion, or 9.6%, since April 17, and they've increased by $289 billion, or 9.5%, year-to-date. Over the past 52 weeks, ICI's money fund asset series has increased by $472 billion, or 16.5%, with Retail MMFs rising by $222 billion (21.2%) and Inst MMFs rising by $250 billion (13.8%). We review the latest money fund asset totals below, and we also look at Fidelity's asset growth and summarize the latest Form N-MFP Portfolio Holdings data.
ICI writes, "Total money market fund assets increased by $57.70 billion to $3.36 trillion for the week ended Wednesday, August 7, the Investment Company Institute reported today. Among taxable money market funds, government funds increased by $46.91 billion and prime funds increased by $10.66 billion. Tax-exempt money market funds increased by $127 million." ICI's weekly series shows Institutional MMFs rising $46.67 billion and Retail MMFs rising $11.03 billion. Total Government MMF assets, including Treasury funds, stood at $2.493 trillion (74.7% of all money funds), while Total Prime MMFs rose to $707.1 billion (21.2%). Tax Exempt MMFs totaled $135.9 billion, or 4.1%.
They explain, "Assets of retail money market funds increased by $11.03 billion to $1.27 trillion. Among retail funds, government money market fund assets increased by $8.33 billion to $721.46 billion, prime money market fund assets increased by $2.60 billion to $420.49 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets increased by $95 million to $125.11 billion." Retail assets account for over a third of total assets, or 38.0%, and Government Retail assets make up 56.9% of all Retail MMFs.
The release adds, "Assets of institutional money market funds increased by $46.67 billion to $2.07 trillion. Among institutional funds, government money market fund assets increased by $38.58 billion to $1.77 trillion, prime money market fund assets increased by $8.06 billion to $286.64 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets increased by $33 million to $10.81 billion." Institutional assets accounted for 62.0% of all MMF assets, with Government Institutional assets making up 85.6% of all Institutional MMF totals.
In related news, Reuters writes "Fidelity's Money-Market Fund Assets Surged 20% in Past Year," which tells us, "Fidelity Investments' money-market fund assets have climbed $116 billion, or 20%, over the past 12 months as investors embrace higher yields for their idle cash, research firm Crane Data said on Thursday."
They state, "At the end of July, Boston-based Fidelity had $710 billion in money-market fund assets, according to Crane. Fidelity is the No. 1 money-market fund provider in the United States. Vanguard Group, which is second largest, had $381 billion in money fund assets, up $72 billion over the past 12 months, according to Crane Data."
Also, Crane Data's latest monthly Money Fund Portfolio Holdings statistics will be published Friday, August 9, and we'll be writing our normal monthly update on the July 31 data for Thursday's News. But we also generate a separate and broader Portfolio Holdings data set based on the SEC's Form N-MFP filings. (We continue to merge the two series, and the N-MFP version is now available via Holding file listings to Money Fund Wisdom subscribers.)
Our new N-MFP summary, with data as of July 31, 2019, includes holdings information from 1,197 money funds (ten more than last month), representing assets of $3.703 trillion (up from $3.613 trillion). We review the latest data, which shows that total money fund assets surged over $3.7 trillion in July.
Our latest Form N-MFP Summary for All Funds (taxable and tax-exempt) shows Repurchase Agreement (Repo) holdings in money market funds totaling $1,288 billion (up from $1,211 billion), or 34.8% of all assets. Treasury holdings total $825.3 billion (down from $829.2 billion), or 22.3%, and Government Agency securities totaled $732.9 billion (up from $729.3 billion), or 19.8%. Commercial paper (CP) totals $352.8 billion (up from $342.4 billion), or 9.5%, and Certificates of Deposit (CDs) total $257.9 billion (down from $258.0 billion), or 7.0%. The Other category (primarily Time Deposits) totals $145.2 billion (up from $139.5 billion), or 3.9%, and VDRNs account for $101.2 billion (down from $103.7 billion last month), or 2.7%.
Broken out into the SEC's more detailed categories, the CP totals were comprised of: $216.6 billion, or 5.8%, in Financial Company Commercial Paper; $62.5 billion or 1.7%, in Asset Backed Commercial Paper; and, $73.7 billion, or 2.0%, in Non-Financial Company Commercial Paper. The Repo totals were made up of: U.S. Treasury Repo ($805.8B, or 21.8%, U.S. Govt Agency Repo ($437.0B, or 11.8%) and Other Repo ($45.6B, or 1.2%).
The N-MFP Holdings summary for the 214 Prime Money Market Funds shows: CP holdings of $347.4 billion (up from $337.1 billion), or 33.4%; CD holdings of $257.9 billion (down from $258.0 billion), or 24.8%; Repo holdings of $205.2 billion (up from $189.8 billion), or 19.7%; Other (primarily Time Deposits) holdings of $93.2 billion (down from $93.3 billion), or 9.0%; Treasury holdings of $69.8 billion (down from $75.9 billion), or 6.7%; Government Agency holdings of $62.3 billion (up from $58.9 billion), or 5.9%; and VRDN holdings of $5.7 billion (down from $5.9 billion), or 0.6%.
The SEC's more detailed categories show CP in Prime MMFs made up of: $216.6 billion (up from $205.1 billion), or 20.8% in Financial Company Commercial Paper; $62.5 billion (up from $61.6 billion) or, 6.0% in Asset Backed Commercial Paper; and $68.3 billion (down from $70.4 billion), or 6.6% in Non-Financial Company Commercial Paper. The Repo totals include: U.S. Treasury Repo ($87.9 billion, or 8.5%), U.S. Govt Agency Repo ($71.7 billion, or 6.9%), and Other Repo ($45.6 billion, or 4.4%).
