Assets Dip, But Retail Keeps Climbing
The Investment Company Institute's weekly "Money Market Fund Assets" shows money fund assets fell in the latest week as Inst MMFs continue sliding but Retail MMFs continue jumping. ICI shows assets down by $120 billion, or -2.6%, year-to-date, with Institutional MMFs down $222 billion, or -6.9% and Retail MMFs up $102 billion, or 6.9%. Over the past 52 weeks, money fund assets are up by $67 billion, or 1.5%, with Retail MMFs rising by $135 billion (9.4%) and Inst MMFs falling by $68 billion (-2.2%). (For the month of October through 10/19, MMF assets have decreased by $4.0 billion to $5.032 trillion according to Crane's MFI XLS, which tracks a broader universe of funds than ICI. Crane Data's Prime asset total is currently $986.4 billion.) Their weekly release says, "Total money market fund assets decreased by $3.65 billion to $4.58 trillion for the week ended Wednesday, October 19, the Investment Company Institute reported.... Among taxable money market funds, government funds decreased by $13.53 billion and prime funds increased by $7.76 billion. Tax-exempt money market funds increased by $2.12 billion." ICI's stats show Institutional MMFs decreasing $19.4 billion and Retail MMFs increasing $15.8 billion in the latest week. Total Government MMF assets, including Treasury funds, were $3.917 trillion (85.4% of all money funds), while Total Prime MMFs were $559.8 billion (12.2%). Tax Exempt MMFs totaled $107.4 billion (2.3%). ICI explains, "Assets of retail money market funds increased by $15.77 billion to $1.57 trillion. Among retail funds, government money market fund assets increased by $4.52 billion to $1.14 trillion, prime money market fund assets increased by $9.22 billion to $331.45 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets increased by $2.03 billion to $96.24 billion." Retail assets now account for over a third of total assets, or 34.3%, and Government Retail assets make up 72.8% of all Retail MMFs. They add, "Assets of institutional money market funds decreased by $19.42 billion to $3.01 trillion. Among institutional funds, government money market fund assets decreased by $18.05 billion to $2.77 trillion, prime money market fund assets decreased by $1.47 billion to $228.30 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets increased by $91 million to $11.19 billion." Institutional assets accounted for 65.7% of all MMF assets, with Government Institutional assets making up 92.1% of all Institutional MMF totals. (Note that ICI's asset totals don't include a number of funds tracked by the SEC and Crane Data, so they're over $400 billion lower than Crane's asset series.)
