Yet Another Record; Retail Joins Party
The Investment Company Institute's latest "Money Market Fund Assets" report shows money fund totals hitting record levels for the fourth week in a row, breaking the $5.2 trillion barrier for the first time ever. MMF assets have risen by $353.4 billion, or 7.2%, since March 8. The failure of Silicon Valley Bank has raised concerns over uninsured bank deposits, and large investors continue shifting assets into money funds (though they're now being joined by some big retail inflows). Over the past 52 weeks, money fund assets have risen $688 billion, or 15.1%, with Retail MMFs rising by $462 billion (32.2%) and Inst MMFs rising by $226 billion (7.2%). ICI shows assets up by $512 billion, or 10.8%, year-to-date in 2023, with Institutional MMFs up $294 billion, or 9.6% and Retail MMFs up $218 billion, or 13.0%. (According to Crane Data's separate Money Fund Intelligence Daily series, money fund assets hit a record $5.638 trillion on Wednesday. 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.) Their weekly release says, "Total money market fund assets increased by $49.07 billion to $5.25 trillion for the week ended Wednesday, April 5, the Investment Company Institute reported.... Among taxable money market funds, government funds increased by $34.80 billion and prime funds increased by $8.03 billion. Tax-exempt money market funds increased by $6.24 billion." ICI's stats show Institutional MMFs jumping $27.1 billion and Retail MMFs surging $22.0 billion in the latest week. Total Government MMF assets, including Treasury funds, were $4.366 trillion (83.2% of all money funds), while Total Prime MMFs were $765.3 billion (14.6%). Tax Exempt MMFs totaled $116.8 billion (2.2%). ICI explains, "Assets of retail money market funds increased by $21.98 billion to $1.90 trillion. Among retail funds, government money market fund assets increased by $12.07 billion to $1.28 trillion, prime money market fund assets increased by $5.19 billion to $509.08 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets increased by $4.72 billion to $104.12 billion." Retail assets account for over a third of total assets, or 36.1%, and Government Retail assets make up 67.6% of all Retail MMFs. They add, "Assets of institutional money market funds increased by $27.09 billion to $3.35 trillion. Among institutional funds, government money market fund assets increased by $22.73 billion to $3.08 trillion, prime money market fund assets increased by $2.84 billion to $256.19 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets increased by $1.52 billion to $12.06 billion." Institutional assets accounted for 63.9% of all MMF assets, with Government Institutional assets making up 92.0% of all Institutional MMF totals.
