The Investment Company Institute released its latest weekly "Money Market Fund Assets" report, which shows MMFs jumping by $67.7 billion, their biggest increase since the last week of April 2020 and their first time back above the $4.6 trillion level since early July 2020. ICI's weekly "Assets" release shows money fund assets up $311 billion, or 7.2%, year-to-date in 2021. Inst MMFs are up $396 billion (14.3%), while Retail MMFs are down $84 billion (-5.5%). Over the past 52 weeks, money fund assets have decreased by $179 billion, or -3.7%, with Retail MMFs falling by $129 billion (-8.2%) and Inst MMFs falling by $51 billion (-1.6%). ICI also released its latest monthly "Trends in Mutual Fund Investing" and "Month-End Portfolio Holdings of Taxable Money Funds" for April 2021.
The release says, "Total money market fund assets increased by $67.73 billion to $4.61 trillion for the week ended Wednesday, May 26.... Among taxable money market funds, government funds increased by $61.96 billion and prime funds increased by $5.73 billion. Tax-exempt money market funds increased by $37 million." ICI's stats show Institutional MMFs increasing $69.4 billion and Retail MMFs decreasing $1.7 billion in the latest week. Total Government MMF assets, including Treasury funds, were $4.021 trillion (87.2% of all money funds), while Total Prime MMFs were $494.6 billion (10.7%). Tax Exempt MMFs totaled $93.1 billion (2.0%). (Note that ICI's asset totals don't include a number of funds tracked by the SEC and Crane Data, so they're almost $400 billion lower than our asset series.)
It explains, "Assets of retail money market funds decreased by $1.65 billion to $1.44 trillion. Among retail funds, government money market fund assets increased by $584 million to $1.12 trillion, prime money market fund assets decreased by $1.80 billion to $235.07 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $437 million to $82.70 billion." Retail assets account for just under a third of total assets, or 31.3%, and Government Retail assets make up 78.0% of all Retail MMFs.
ICI adds, "Assets of institutional money market funds increased by $69.38 billion to $3.17 trillion. Among institutional funds, government money market fund assets increased by $61.37 billion to $2.90 trillion, prime money market fund assets increased by $7.54 billion to $259.48 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets increased by $473 million to $10.42 billion." Institutional assets accounted for 68.7% of all MMF assets, with Government Institutional assets making up 91.5% of all Institutional MMF totals.
The monthly "Trends" report shows that money fund assets increased $31.9 billion in April to $4.529 trillion. This follows increases of $129.4 billion in March and $39.4 billion in February, but decreases of $5.2 billion in January, $10.0 billion in December and $12.0 billion in November. Assets also fell $47.6 billion in October, $118.4 billion in September, $56.7 billion in August, $55.4 billion in July and $133.5 billion in June. For the 12 months through April 30, 2021, money fund assets have decreased by $207.9 billion, or -4.4%. (Month-to-date in May, through 5/27, MMF assets have increased by $78.3 billion according to our MFI Daily.)
Their monthly release states, "The combined assets of the nation's mutual funds increased by $783.78 billion, or 3.2 percent, to $25.55 trillion in April, 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.... Bond funds had an inflow of $52.82 billion in April, compared with an inflow of $39.14 billion in March.... Money market funds had an inflow of $31.92 billion in April, compared with an inflow of $129.49 billion in March. In March funds offered primarily to institutions had an inflow of $60.44 billion and funds offered primarily to individuals had an outflow of $28.52 billion."
The Institute's latest statistics show that Taxable MMFs gained assets last month while Tax Exempt MMFs lost assets. Taxable MMFs increased by $34.9 billion in April to $4.433 trillion. Tax-Exempt MMFs decreased $3.0 billion to $96.3 billion. Taxable MMF assets decreased year-over-year by $168.2 trillion (-3.7%), while Tax-Exempt funds fell by $39.7 billion over the past year (-29.2%). Bond fund assets increased by $96.2 billion in April to $5.398 trillion (they broke above the $5.0 trillion level in October); they've risen by $919.8 billion (20.5%) over the past year.
Money funds represent 17.7% of all mutual fund assets (down 0.5% from the previous month), while bond funds account for 21.1%, according to ICI. The total number of money market funds was 326 down 2 from the month prior and down from 360 a year ago. Taxable money funds numbered 259 funds, and tax-exempt money funds numbered 67 funds.
ICI's "Month-End Portfolio Holdings" confirms increases in Repo, CP, CDs and Other securities, and decreases in Treasuries, Notes and Agencies. Treasury holdings in Taxable money funds remain the largest composition segment (since surpassing Repo last April). Treasury holdings decreased by $20.8 billion, or -0.9%, to $2.338 trillion, or 52.8% of holdings. Treasury securities have increased by $387.3 trillion, or 19.9%, over the past 12 months. (See our May MF Portfolio Holdings: Repo, TDs Jump; Treasuries, Agencies Drop.")
Repurchase Agreements were in second place among composition segments; they increased by $33.8 billion, or 3.0%, to $1.160 trillion, or 26.2% of holdings. Repo holdings have dropped $87.6 billion, or -7.0%, over the past year. U.S. Government Agency securities were the third largest segment; they decreased $11.6 billion, or -2.0%, to $559.4 billion, or 12.6% of holdings. Agency holdings have fallen by $432.7 billion, or -43.6%, over the past 12 months.
Certificates of Deposit (CDs) remained in fourth place; they increased by $9.9 billion, or 5.3%, to $196.3 billion (4.4% of assets). CDs held by money funds shrank by $53.2 billion, or -21.3%, over 12 months. Commercial Paper took fifth place, up $99 million, or 0.1%, to $176.9 billion (4.0% of assets). CP has decreased by $30.6 billion, or -14.7%, over one year. Other holdings increased to $29.3 billion (0.7% of assets), while Notes (including Corporate and Bank) were down to $4.5 billion (0.1% of assets).
The Number of Accounts Outstanding in ICI's series for taxable money funds increased to 43.420 million, while the Number of Funds was down two at 259. Over the past 12 months, the number of accounts rose by 4.103 million and the number of funds decreased by 21. The Average Maturity of Portfolios was 42 days, down two from March. Over the past 12 months, WAMs of Taxable money have increased by 2.
