The Investment Company Institute released its monthly "Trends in Mutual Fund Investing - October 2019" and its latest monthly "Month-End Portfolio Holdings of Taxable Money Funds" reports yesterday. Their latest numbers show money fund assets jumping $77.4 billion to $3.518 trillion in October. (Watch for our coverage of ICI's latest Weekly MMF Assets tomorrow.) The monthly increase follows increases of $74.4 billion in September, $87.0 billion in August and $78.2 billion in July. For the 12 months through Oct. 31, 2019, money fund assets have increased by $633.5 billion, or 22.0%. (Crane Data's separate MFI Daily asset series shows money market funds up by another $76.1 billion to $3.920 trillion month-to-date in November through 11/25.)
ICI's release states, "The combined assets of the nation's mutual funds increased by $330.18 billion, or 1.6 percent, to $20.47 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 inflow of $28.33 billion in October, compared with an inflow of $24.35 billion in September.... Money market funds had an inflow of $74.08 billion in October, compared with an inflow of $70.69 billion in September. In October funds offered primarily to institutions had an inflow of $45.04 billion and funds offered primarily to individuals had an inflow of $29.04 billion."
ICI's latest statistics show that both Taxable and Tax Exempt MMFs gained assets last month. Taxable MMFs increased by $74.1 billion in October to $3.381 trillion. Tax-Exempt MMFs increased $3.3 billion in October to $137.2 billion. Taxable MMF assets increased year-over-year by $630.5 billion (22.9%). Tax-Exempt funds rose by $3.0 billion over the past year (2.2%). Bond fund assets increased by $38.1 billion in October (0.8%) to $4.616 trillion; they've risen by $499.8 billion (12.1%) over the past year.
Money funds represent 17.2% of all mutual fund assets (up from 17.1% the previous month), while bond funds account for 22.6%, according to ICI. The total number of money market funds was 368, one more than the month prior and down from 381 a year ago. Taxable money funds numbered 288 funds, and tax-exempt money funds numbered 80 funds.
ICI's "Month-End Portfolio Holdings" update confirms an increase in Treasury and Agency holdings and another drop in Repo last month. Repurchase Agreements remained in first place among composition segments; they decreased by $34.2 billion, or -2.9%, to $1.139 trillion, or 33.7% of holdings. Repo holdings have risen by $196.1 billion, or 20.8%, over the past year. (See our Nov. 13 News, "Nov. MF Portfolio Holdings: Repo Drops, T-Bills, Agencies Jump, Again.")
Treasury holdings in Taxable money funds increased by $44.4 billion, or 4.7%, to $989.5 billion, or 29.3% of holdings. Treasury securities have increased by $206.0 billion, or 26.3%, over the past 12 months. U.S. Government Agency securities were the third largest segment; they increased $39.0 billion, or 5.6%, to $734.4 billion, or 21.7% of holdings. Agency holdings have risen by $103.7 billion, or 16.4%, over the past 12 months.
Certificates of Deposit (CDs) stood in fourth place; they increased by $20.3 billion, or 7.8%, to $278.8 billion (8.2% of assets). CDs held by money funds have grown by $72.2 billion, or 34.9%, over 12 months. Commercial Paper remained in fifth place, up $5.6 billion, or 2.4%, to $242.6 billion (7.2% of assets). CP has increased by $51.0 billion, or 26.6%, over one year. Notes (including Corporate and Bank) were down $237 million, or -1.9%, to $12.5 billion (0.4% of assets), while Other holdings decreased to $14.9 billion.
The Number of Accounts Outstanding in ICI's series for taxable money funds increased by 423.2 thousand to 36.401 million, while the Number of Funds increased by two from last month to 288. Over the past 12 months, the number of accounts grew by 3.261 million and the number of funds decreased by 9. The Average Maturity of Portfolios was 36 days, three more than in September. Over the past 12 months, WAMs of Taxable money have increased by 4.
In related news, Crane Data published its latest Weekly Money Fund Portfolio Holdings statistics and summary yesterday. Our weekly holdings track a shifting subset of our monthly Portfolio Holdings collection. The most recent cut (with data as of Nov. 22) includes Holdings information from 93 money funds (up 14 from last week), which represent $2.081 trillion (up from $1.810 trillion) of the $3.765 trillion (55.3%) in total money fund assets tracked by Crane Data.
Our latest Weekly MFPH Composition summary again shows Government assets dominating the holdings list with Repurchase Agreements (Repo) totaling $703.7 billion (up from $618.9 billion two weeks ago), or 33.8%, Treasury debt totaling $687.2 billion (up from $606.7 billion) or 33.0%, and Government Agency securities totaling $385.0 billion (up from $345.6 billion), or 18.5%. Certificates of Deposit (CDs) totaled $104.5 billion (up from $89.1 billion), or 5.0%, and Commercial Paper (CP) totaled $99.8 billion (up from $84.4 billion), or 4.8%. A total of $59.4 billion or 2.9%, was listed in the Other category (primarily Time Deposits), and VRDNs accounted for $41.4 billion, or 2.0%.
The Ten Largest Issuers in our Weekly Holdings product include: the US Treasury with $687.2 billion (33.0% of total holdings), Federal Home Loan Bank with $280.1B (13.5%), Fixed Income Clearing Co with $100.1B (4.8%), BNP Paribas with $67.6 billion (3.2%), Federal Farm Credit Bank with $59.9B (2.9%), RBC with $52.3B (2.5%), JP Morgan with $42.7B (2.1%), Credit Agricole with $39.0B (1.9%), Wells Fargo with $37.1B (1.8%) and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc with $36.6B (1.8%).
The Ten Largest Funds tracked in our latest Weekly include: JP Morgan US Govt ($157.8B), Fidelity Inv MM: Govt Port ($138.3B), Goldman Sachs FS Govt ($115.7B), BlackRock Lq FedFund ($114.1B), Federated Govt Oblg ($93.8B), Wells Fargo Govt MM ($85.2B), JP Morgan 100% US Treas MMkt ($74.7B), BlackRock Lq T-Fund ($73.2B), Fidelity Inv MM: MM Port ($72.1B) and Goldman Sachs FS Treas Instruments ($70.7B). (Let us know if you'd like to see our latest domestic U.S. and/or "offshore" Weekly Portfolio Holdings collection and summary, or our Bond Fund Portfolio Holdings data series.)
