Money Fund Asset Surge Continues
Money fund assets rose again for the fifth week in a row, the 8th week out of the past 9 and the 22nd week out of the past 24. ICI's latest "Money Market Fund Assets" report shows that MMF totals have increased by $415.0 billion, or 13.6%, year-to-date. Over the past 52 weeks, ICI's money fund asset series has increased by $591 billion, or 20.6%, with Retail MMFs rising by $245 billion (22.9%) and Inst MMFs rising by $346 billion (19.2%). ICI writes, "Total money market fund assets increased by $20.24 billion to $3.46 trillion for the week ended Wednesday, October 2, the Investment Company Institute reported.... Among taxable money market funds, government funds increased by $19.41 billion and prime funds decreased by $459 million. Tax-exempt money market funds increased by $1.29 billion." ICI's weekly series shows Institutional MMFs jumping $8.6 billion and Retail MMFs increasing $11.7 billion. Total Government MMF assets, including Treasury funds, were $2.596 trillion (75.0% of all money funds), while Total Prime MMFs were $731.5 billion (21.1%). Tax Exempt MMFs totaled $135.3 billion, 3.9%. They explain, "Assets of retail money market funds increased by $11.68 billion to $1.32 trillion. Among retail funds, government money market fund assets increased by $9.07 billion to $756.48 billion, prime money market fund assets increased by $2.21 billion to $437.13 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets increased by $409 million to $123.72 billion." Retail assets account for over a third of total assets, or 38.0%, and Government Retail assets make up 57.4% of all Retail MMFs. The release adds, "Assets of institutional money market funds increased by $8.55 billion to $2.15 trillion. Among institutional funds, government money market fund assets increased by $10.34 billion to $1.84 trillion, prime money market fund assets decreased by $2.67 billion to $294.39 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets increased by $880 million to $11.60 billion." Institutional assets accounted for 62.0% of all MMF assets, with Government Institutional assets making up 85.7% of all Institutional MMF totals.
