Two-Thirds of Funds Yield 0.00-0.01%
Money market fund yields continue to bottom out just above zero, as our flagship Crane 100 inched down another basis point in the last week to 0.07%. The Crane 100 Money Fund Index fell below the 1.0% level in mid-March and below the 0.5% level in late March. It is down from 1.46% at the start of the year and down from 2.23% at the beginning of 2019. Just under two-thirds of all money funds and just over a third of MMF assets have since landed on the zero yield floor, though many continue to show some yield. According to our Money Fund Intelligence Daily, as of Friday, 8/7, 541 funds (out of 850 total) yield 0.00% or 0.01% with assets of $1.762 trillion, or 35.7% of the total $4.930 trillion. There are 201 funds yielding between 0.02% and 0.10%, totaling $2.322 trillion, or 47.1% of assets; 99 funds yielded between 0.11% and 0.25% with $751.4 billion, or 15.2% of assets; 9 funds yielded between 0.26% and 0.50% with $94.7 billion in assets, or 1.9%. No funds yield over 0.50%. The Crane Money Fund Average, which includes all taxable funds tracked by Crane Data (currently 671), shows a 7-day yield of 0.04%, down a basis point in the week through Friday, 8/7. The Crane Money Fund Average is down 43 bps from 0.47% at the beginning of April. Prime Inst MFs were down a basis point to 0.10% in the latest week and Government Inst MFs were down a basis point at 0.04%. Treasury Inst MFs were also down a basis point at 0.03%. Treasury Retail MFs currently yield 0.01%, (unchanged in the last week), Government Retail MFs yield 0.01% (unchanged in the last week), and Prime Retail MFs yield 0.05% (unchanged), Tax-exempt MF 7-day yields were down a basis point at 0.03%. (Let us know if you'd like to see our latest MFI Daily.) Our Crane Brokerage Sweep Index, which hit the zero floor four months ago, remains at 0.01%. The latest Brokerage Sweep Intelligence, with data as of August 7, shows no changes in the last week. All of the major brokerages now offer rates of 0.01% for balances of $100K. No brokerage sweep rates or money fund yields have gone negative to date, but this could become a distinct possibility in coming weeks or months. Crane's Brokerage Sweep Index has been flat for the last 16 weeks at 0.01% (for balances of $100K). Ameriprise, E*Trade, Fidelity, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Raymond James, RW Baird, Schwab, TD Ameritrade, UBS and Wells Fargo all currently have rates of 0.01% for balances at the $100K tier level (and almost every other tier too).
