Money Funds Eke Out Another Record
ICI's latest weekly "Money Market Fund Assets" report shows money fund assets inching higher to their second record in a row following two weeks of modest declines. Money funds saw their biggest weekly increase since April 29, 2020 during the first week of 2023, and they've risen by $237.1 billion (or 5.2%) over the past 13 weeks. Over the past 52 weeks, money fund assets are up by $194 billion, or 4.2%, with Retail MMFs rising by $280 billion (18.9%) and Inst MMFs falling by $86 billion (-2.7%). ICI shows assets up by $86 billion, or 1.8%, year-to-date in 2023, with Institutional MMFs up $2 billion, or 0.1% and Retail MMFs up $85 billion, or 5.0%. The weekly release says, "Total money market fund assets increased by $2.14 billion to $4.82 trillion for the week ended Wednesday, February 1, the Investment Company Institute reported.... Among taxable money market funds, government funds decreased by $7.57 billion and prime funds increased by $15.69 billion. Tax-exempt money market funds decreased by $5.98 billion." ICI's stats show Institutional MMFs falling $14.0 billion and Retail MMFs increasing $16.2 billion in the latest week. Total Government MMF assets, including Treasury funds, were $3.975 trillion (82.4% of all money funds), while Total Prime MMFs were $735.6 billion (15.3%). Tax Exempt MMFs totaled $110.9 billion (2.3%). ICI explains, "Assets of retail money market funds increased by $16.16 billion to $1.76 trillion. Among retail funds, government money market fund assets increased by $8.30 billion to $1.19 trillion, prime money market fund assets increased by $12.67 billion to $473.34 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $4.81 billion to $99.85 billion." Retail assets account for over a third of total assets, or 36.5%, and Government Retail assets make up 67.5% of all Retail MMFs. They add, "Assets of institutional money market funds decreased by $14.02 billion to $3.06 trillion. Among institutional funds, government money market fund assets decreased by $15.87 billion to $2.79 trillion, prime money market fund assets increased by $3.02 billion to $262.29 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $1.17 billion to $11.03 billion." Institutional assets accounted for 63.5% of all MMF assets, with Government Institutional assets making up 91.1% of all Institutional MMF totals. For the month of January 2023 (through 1/31/23), money fund assets decreased by $3.3 billion to $5.196 trillion, according to Crane Data's 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.)
