MMF Assets Break $3.6 Trillion
Money fund assets jumped again in the latest week, breaking above the $3.6 trillion level for the first time since July 2009. The increase represents the 30th gain out of the past 34 weeks. ICI's latest "Money Market Fund Assets" report shows that MMF totals have increased by $572 billion, or 18.8%, year-to-date in 2019. Over the past 52 weeks, ICI's money fund asset series has increased by $616 billion, or 20.5%, with Retail MMFs rising by $227 billion (20.1%) and Inst MMFs rising by $390 billion (20.8%). ICI writes, "Total money market fund assets increased by $40.11 billion to $3.62 trillion for the week ended Wednesday, December 11, the Investment Company Institute reported.... Among taxable money market funds, government funds increased by $31.03 billion and prime funds increased by $9.67 billion. Tax-exempt money market funds decreased by $596 million." ICI's weekly series shows Institutional MMFs rising $35.0 billion and Retail MMFs increasing $5.1 billion. Total Government MMF assets, including Treasury funds, were $2.695 trillion (74.5% of all money funds), while Total Prime MMFs were $786.3 billion (21.7%). Tax Exempt MMFs totaled $138.2 billion, 3.8%. They explain, "Assets of retail money market funds increased by $5.12 billion to $1.35 trillion. Among retail funds, government money market fund assets increased by $3.73 billion to $766.67 billion, prime money market fund assets increased by $1.55 billion to $462.07 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $162 million to $125.78 billion." Retail assets account for over a third of total assets, or 37.4%, and Government Retail assets make up 56.6% of all Retail MMFs. The release adds, "Assets of institutional money market funds increased by $34.99 billion to $2.26 trillion. Among institutional funds, government money market fund assets increased by $27.30 billion to $1.93 trillion, prime money market fund assets increased by $8.12 billion to $324.26 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $434 million to $12.38 billion." Institutional assets accounted for 62.6% of all MMF assets, with Government Institutional assets making up 85.1% of all Institutional MMF totals. Crane Data's separate Money Fund Intelligence Daily series shows overall money fund assets up $57.4 billion month-to-date (through 12/11) to $3.968 trillion. (We're projecting that this series will break the $4.0 trillion level by the end of this month!) Prime MMF assets are up $15.1B MTD, while Government assets are up $42.1B.
