As we wrote earlier this month (and reprint here), our January MFI issue recognized the top performing money funds, ranked by total returns, for calendar year 2022, as well as the top funds for the past 5-year and 10-year periods. We present the funds below with our annual Money Fund Intelligence Awards. These are given to the No. 1‐ranked funds based on 1-year, 5-year and 10-year returns, through Dec. 31, 2022, in each of our major fund categories -- Prime Institutional, Government Institutional, Treasury Institutional, Prime Retail, Government Retail, Treasury Retail and Tax‐Exempt. (Let us know if you'd like to see our latest Money Fund Intelligence issue with the MFI Awards article or our latest MFI XLS product with the performance data and rankings behind the awards.)
The Top-Performing Prime Institutional fund (and fund overall) was BlackRock Cash Inst MMF SL (BRC01), which returned 1.79%. Excluding private and internal funds, the best performer in 2022 was Allspring Heritage Select (WFJXX) with a return of 1.76%. Among Prime Retail funds, Allspring Money Market Fund Premier (WMPXX) had the best return in 2022 (1.75%).
The Top‐Performing Govt Institutional fund in 2022 was Dreyfus Inst Pref Govt Plus MF (DRF03), which returned 1.71%. American Century US Govt MM G (AGGXX) was the Top Government Retail fund over 1‐year with a return of 1.65%. Dreyfus Treas & Agen Liquidity MMF (DTLXX) ranked No. 1 in the Treasury Institutional class with a return of 1.64%. Vanguard Treasury Money Market (VUSXX) was No. 1 among Treasury Retail funds, returning 1.50%.
For the 5‐year period through Dec. 31, 2022, BlackRock Cash Inst MMF SL (BRC01) took top honors for the best performing Prime Institutional money fund with a return of 1.44%. DWS ESG Liquidity Cap (ESIXX) ranked first (1.39%) when private funds are excluded. Allspring MMF Premium (WMPXX) and Fidelity Inv MM: MM Port Inst (FNSXX) both ranked No. 1 among Prime Retail with annualized returns of 1.33%.
Fidelity Series Govt Money Market Fund (FGNXX) ranked No. 1 among Govt Institutional funds with a return of 1.28%, while Vanguard Cash Reserves Federal MM Adm (VMRXX) ranked No. 1 among Govt Retail funds over the past 5 years with a return of 1.29%. BlackRock Cash Treas MMF SL (BRC03) ranked No. 1 in 5‐year performance among Treasury Inst funds with a return of 1.19%. Dreyfus Treas & Agen Liquidity MMF (DTLXX) was first excluding internal funds (1.18%). Vanguard Treasury Money Market (VUSXX) ranks No. 1 among Treasury Retail funds with a return of 1.18%.
The highest performers of the past 10 years and No. 1 among Prime Inst MMFs were both BlackRock Cash Inst MMF SL (BRC01) and DWS ESG Liquidity Cap (ESIXX), which returned 0.95%. Fidelity Inv MM: MM Port Inst (FNSXX), which returned 0.87%, was best among Prime Retail. Dreyfus Inst Pref Govt Plus MF (DRF03), UBS Liquid Assets Govt Fund (UBS02) and DWS Govt MM Series Instit (ICAXX) returned 0.77%, 0.75% and 0.74% and ranked No. 1, 2, 3 among Govt Inst funds. Vanguard Cash Reserves Federal MM Adm (VMRXX) ranked No. 1 among Govt Retail funds, returning 0.83%.
BlackRock Cash Treas MMF SL (BRC03) returned the most among Treasury Inst funds over the past 10 years at 0.71%. (Dreyfus Inst Pref Treas Obl Inst, Fidelity Inv MM: Treas Port Inst and Invesco Treasury Institutional all tied for No. 1 if restricted funds are excluded with returns of 0.68%.) Vanguard Treasury Money Market (VUSXX) ranked No. 1 among Treasury Retail money market funds at 0.70%.
We also gave out awards for the best‐performing Tax‐Exempt money funds. Federated Hermes Muni Obligs WS (MOFXX) ranked No. 1 among T-E funds over 1-year with a return of 1.15%. Federated Hermes Muni Obligs WS (MOFXX) also ranked No. 1 for the 5-year period ended Dec. 31, 2022 with a return of 0.91%. Vanguard Muni Cash Mgmt Fund ranked No. 1 for the 10-year period with a return of 0.60% (followed by MOFXX).
See the MFI Award Winner listings on page 6 of MFI, and see our latest Money Fund Intelligence XLS for more detailed rankings. The tables on page 6 show the No. 1 ranked money fund for each category based on 1‐year, 5‐year, and 10‐year annualized total returns.
In other news, ICI's latest weekly "Money Market Fund Assets" report shows money fund assets declining after they hit a record $4.814 trillion two weeks ago. Money funds inched lower for the second week in a row following their biggest weekly increase since April 29, 2020; they've still risen by $218.9 billion (or 4.8%) over the past 12 weeks. Over the past 52 weeks, money fund assets are up by $187 billion, or 4.0%, with Retail MMFs rising by $263 billion (17.8%) and Inst MMFs falling by $76 billion (-2.4%). ICI shows assets up by $68 billion, or 1.4%, year-to-date in 2023 (the first 3 weeks), with Institutional MMFs up $7 billion, or 0.2% and Retail MMFs up $61 billion, or 3.6%. (See our Jan. 5 News, "Money Fund Assets Hit Record $5.23 Trillion.")
The weekly release says, "Total money market fund assets decreased by $2.07 billion to $4.80 trillion for the week ended Wednesday, January 18, the Investment Company Institute reported.... Among taxable money market funds, government funds decreased by $10.76 billion and prime funds increased by $8.61 billion. Tax-exempt money market funds increased by $87 million." ICI's stats show Institutional MMFs falling $7.0 billion and Retail MMFs increasing $5.0 billion in the latest week. Total Government MMF assets, including Treasury funds, were $3.976 trillion (82.8% of all money funds), while Total Prime MMFs were $705.9 billion (14.7%). Tax Exempt MMFs totaled $121.7 billion (2.5%).
ICI explains, "Assets of retail money market funds increased by $4.97 billion to $1.74 trillion. Among retail funds, government money market fund assets decreased by $2.87 billion to $1.18 trillion, prime money market fund assets increased by $7.83 billion to $447.68 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets were unchanged at $108.49 billion." Retail assets account for over a third of total assets, or 36.2%, and Government Retail assets make up 68.0% of all Retail MMFs.
They add, "Assets of institutional money market funds decreased by $7.03 billion to $3.06 trillion. Among institutional funds, government money market fund assets decreased by $7.89 billion to $2.79 trillion, prime money market fund assets increased by $775 million to $258.18 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets increased by $83 million to $13.18 billion." Institutional assets accounted for 63.8% of all MMF assets, with Government Institutional assets making up 91.1% of all Institutional MMF totals.
Month-to-date in January 2023 (through 1/18/23), money fund assets have decreased by $8.7 billion, according to our Money Fund Intelligence Daily. (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.)
