ICI: MMF Assets Move Lower Again
Money market fund assets fell for the second week in a row, their 10th decrease over the past 13 weeks. ICI's latest weekly "Money Market Fund Assets" report says, "Total money market fund assets decreased by $10.61 billion to $4.54 trillion for the week ended Wednesday, August 19, the Investment Company Institute reported.... Among taxable money market funds, government funds decreased by $5.55 billion and prime funds decreased by $5.21 billion. Tax-exempt money market funds increased by $157 million." ICI's stats show Institutional MMFs decreasing $11.7 billion and Retail MMFs increasing $1.1 billion. Total Government MMF assets, including Treasury funds, were $3.671 trillion (80.8% of all money funds), while Total Prime MMFs were $751.1 billion (16.5%). Tax Exempt MMFs totaled $121.8 billion (2.7%). ICI shows Money fund assets up a still massive $912 billion, or 25.1%, year-to-date in 2020, with Inst MMFs up $745 billion (33.0%) and Retail MMFs up $167 billion (12.2%). Over the past 52 weeks, ICI's money fund asset series has increased by $1.166 trillion, or 34.5%, with Retail MMFs rising by $262 billion (20.5%) and Inst MMFs rising by $904 billion (43.0%). They explain, "Assets of retail money market funds increased by $1.13 billion to $1.54 trillion. Among retail funds, government money market fund assets increased by $3.60 billion to $985.51 billion, prime money market fund assets decreased by $2.23 billion to $442.21 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $240 million to $108.93 billion." Retail assets account for just over a third of total assets, or 33.8%, and Government Retail assets make up 64.1% of all Retail MMFs. ICI adds, "Assets of institutional money market funds decreased by $11.74 billion to $3.01 trillion. Among institutional funds, government money market fund assets decreased by $9.16 billion to $2.69 trillion, prime money market fund assets decreased by $2.98 billion to $308.92 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets increased by $397 million to $12.83 billion." Institutional assets accounted for 66.2% of all MMF assets, with Government Institutional assets making up 89.3% of all Institutional MMF totals.
